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Absence of political synergy between the Federal and Lagos State Governments has been a major factor in the continuous chaos witnessed in Apapa.
This is against the expectation of stakeholders that the political victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at both levels of government would bring about a quick fix for Apapa and end the difficulty that businesses and residents have been subjected to over the years.
For more than 10 years, the then opposition party- Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which in 2014, merged with Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to form APC, blamed the degradation of Apapa on political differences between it in Lagos and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which controlled the Federal Government. Thus Apapa featured prominently in the build-up to the 2015 general elections as politicians from both parties sought to undo one another.
More than two years after the APC swept to power at the federal level and retained its stranglehold on Lagos, Apapa and its collapsed infrastructure have remained in the woods.
Investigations show that there has been no strong synergy between Abuja and Lagos towards finding a solution to the Apapa lockdown notwithstanding the fact that the two levels of government belong to the same political party.
While the Federal Government makes billions annually from the ports in Apapa, Lagos on its part rakes in over 500 million from the implementation of its Wharf Landing Fee Law. The law makes it mandatory for 40ft and 20ft containers taking goods out of the port to pay N1,000 and N500 respectively. Also, a 33,000-litre tanker is required by the law to pay N1000 to the Lagos State government.
But neither the Federal nor Lagos State Government is seen willing to pick up the bill to fix Apapa. Instead, the Federal Government has turned to private businesses. The Dangote Group and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc are two of the private concerns that the Federal Government has approached to fix. The two companies together with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have agreed to rehabilitate a section of collapsed Ijora-Wharf road at the cost of N4.3 billion. The Federal Government has also entered into an agreement with Dangote to rehabilitate 35km Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway.
In the last two years, Abuja and Lagos have openly disagreed in core areas of economic interests. In March this year, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode accused the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing where his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola sits atop as minister, of frustrating efforts to release the Muritala Mohammed International Airport-Oshodi road to Lagos, for rehabilitation.
Ambode also accused the federal ministry of refusing to approve the handover of the Presidential Lodge, Marina to Lagos contrary to the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari. The two allegations which Fashola denied were before Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, eventually directed the release of the road and the Presidential lodge to Lagos in August.
At present, both levels of government are in legal battle over the control of economic activities and regulation of the inland waterways in Lagos. While the Mile 2-Tincan section of Oshodi-Apapa expressway remains in a sordid state, other entry routes into Apapa, including Ijora-Wharf and Boundary-Mobil roads have become parking lots for thousands of trucks making their way to Apapa to evacuate imported goods and petroleum products.
Anofi Elegushi, acting commissioner for transportation in Lagos, said there was nothing the state government could do about Apapa, describing it as “national problem”.
Stakeholders and port users had expected that the political alignment between Lagos and Abuja would result in faster rehabilitation of the collapsed Apapa road network.
One of the stakeholders, Remi Ogungbemi, president of the Association of Maritime Transport Owners (AMARTO) in an interview with BusinessDay in 2015, said if politics played a role in the neglect of Apapa in the past, it would be a new beginning now that Lagos and Abuja share same political ideology.
“Now that we have the same political party controlling federal and Lagos State, hopefully, the end to traffic congestion around the ports should be in sight. In advance, I say congratulations to all port operators,” Ogungbemi said in 2015.
JOSHUA BASSEY
