The unorganised informal business sector has bounced back after the federal and Lagos State governments took steps to rid the major seaport road and Oshodi-Apapa Expressway of trucks and tankers, which have been causing traffic congestion on the road in the last three years, SAMSON ECHENIM writes.
It was with a great sigh of relief that Lagos residents who have businesses in Apapa, host town of Nigeria’s largest and busiest seaports received the news that the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, major route to the ports have been cleared of heavy-duty vehicles, which have turned movement on the seaport road into a nightmare for over three years.
While the processes and tales of how the federal Lagos State governments achieved the feat may appear stale, the positive results, especially on the nation’s economy now coming out from the exercise is worthy of attention.
Undeniably, apparent among the positive impacts of decongesting the seaport is that informal businesses now booming around the port complexes. The number of young women and men hawking GSM recharge cards, foods, water and soft drinks, among other items, has now multiplied, .
One of the recharge card vendors at Tin Can Island Port, Ebube Nnaji 23 says “business is better now.” “More people are buying cards and talking business because there is now ease of movement to the port. In the past when the traffic was bad, I do usually sell much cards, but now, I sell much more card and that means more profit,” she explains, expressing great excitement.
Young Nnaji, who lives in Mile 2, about one and half kilometres from Tin Can Island Port, adds, “Many times I was not even encouraged to come to Apapa, because it would definitely take you up to three hours to move through the short distance as traffic was usually on standstill. I don’t usually use okada because my profits and the capital cannot cover the cost.”
A food vendor at the Apapa Port arena, Madam Bisi Idowu cannot hide her gratitude to the government for eventually taking up its responsibility. She says port users were not buying much food in the days of the notorious traffic gridlock, because they had to spend cautiously, as they were not sure of how much would just be enough for them to get home.
Before sanity was restored on the road, a road user could pay as much as N400 for okada from Mile 2 to Apapa. Such a person might have also paid about N200 or N250 from Oshodi before deciding to alight and use okada to beat time. Hence, paying as much as N650 for a distance of about five kilometres from Oshodi to Apapa. At the moment, it takes between N100 and N150 as bus fare from Oshodi, or Cele Bus Stop to Apapa.
“After paying so much for transport, agents and other port users prefer to come here, quickly do their businesses and leave before 4pm. Sometimes, they spend a long time at the port without eating, because the money they would have used to eat has been spent on okada,” Idowu explains.
Even though the ugly traffic situation was not a problem to Madam Idowu, who lives in nearby Ajegunle and could scheme her movement through the various shortcuts to Apapa Port, she explains that she also had to abandon the business at some point, as business became “very bad.”
She continues, “You would see people moving. The port would be filled with agents, but to buy food to eat was not as easy as anyone can imagine. We really thank the government for this wonderful work. In fact, we had thought that the situation wouldn’t improved at all anymore, because the government has tried to do this before, but it didn’t work.
“Then people would say there was a cabal, that is, owners of the trucks. They would say, they are very rich and untouchable people. With what we have seen now, we know that there is no one that is too big for the government to handle. Our prayer is that this good work remains permanent.”
A drinks vendor, who gave her name as Mama Adoke says even though she managed to be consistent in the business through the dark days on the road, she was merely existing as her income realised from the business was not enough to cater for her family’s needs.
A mother of five children, and her husband a clearing agent, she says what she gets from the business now to support her husband has become quite meaningful.
She says, “Sometimes, it takes some weeks before my husband would get job in the port. It is not every day that his clients have cargoes to clear. It even takes a month or longer in many occasions. So I had to find a way to help my husband.”
Mama Adoke, who lives in Oshodi and with her first daughter now in the university says, “Although my husband had to stop me from selling at the port because of the bad traffic, I was not willing to stop because I know the economic implication it will make in our home.
“After the tanker and trailer drivers stopped parking on the road, business started moving, because people now started having more money from their business and more money earmarked on drinks and on foods too. If you ask everyone who is selling here, they will tell you what I am telling you now. Now I thank God that things are better. Everybody is happy.”
Thousands of man hours were being lost daily as people doing business in Apapa and at the seaports go through terrible traffic gridlock at the Apapa-Mile 2 end of the road. The ugly traffic situation persisted for several years, with all government’s efforts to checkmate it resulting in failure until the current measure was taken.
Paulinus Udeze, an accountant says he is particularly happy about the condition of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway now.
He says, “We have the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) the Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) and the Police working together to control traffic on the road. In the past, the road was not passable, but in the last two weeks now or thereabout, the road is very good.
“They are doing a lot of work. We are praying that the government remain focused on the road to sustain the good and we are optimistic that it will continue. At least, that is what everybody is hoping for.”
For Charles Sunday, an export agent, the many accidents happening on this road, with so many people losing their lives is now thing of the past.
“It’s really good now. You can see how cars and other vehicles are moving freely. Unlike before when I used to get to office by 11 am, now I have been getting to my office by 8 am and that’s quite okay by me,” he says.
However, Sunday stressed that it is important that the government continues to keep working on sustain smooth traffic on the road.
He observes, “When I drove through that road yesterday, I saw that some truck drivers have started parking on the road again and I wondered if government had relaxed. I know it may bring up new issues and challenges on the side of the government and the truck drivers, because it’s about change, but I will like to appeal to the government to put more effort and not to relent. As for the truckers, there’s always a way out of their situation and things will be okay with time.”
As Apapa residents, informal traders and port users enjoy the boom that comes with the smooth traffic on the seaport road, Chuma Ndu, clearing agent sees a short-lived relief. He believes that a permanent solution to the problem is more than just ridding the road of tankers and trucks.
He stresses that a lot of empty containers being managed improperly by shipping companies and terminal operators which lack adequate containers holding bay were also causing severe traffic challenge.
“There are containers everywhere and on the trucks lining up on the road now. All the port concessionaires don’t have enough containers holding bay. If the terminal operators can offload empty containers as soon as they are delivered by the trucks this problem won’t be on the road. That is exactly the problem,” he says.
He further adds, “It is not a matter of forcing truckers out of the road without solving the basic problem. Look at my car key. I had to park my car there (point to a far distance) because there is no road. Look at the road now where we are (Wharf Road, Burma Junction) trucks are already pilling up filling up the road. Government should stop beating about the bush.”
Another freight forwarder, Uzo Chukwuka, says the only way to sustain sanity on the road is for the government to be closer to the port, “so that the road management officials (LASTMA, FRSC and the Police) who are here taking money will not bring back the former system.”
“The governments need to constantly maintain what they have done, which I think every user of the road appreciates. There is a taskforce comprising the police, road safety, NPA security. All of them should cooperate well to maintain traffic and the sanity that the government has been able to establish on the seaport road.
I believe that this sanity can be sustained if the government is really serious about it. When the government issued that directive all the trucks disappeared, but we are beginning to see that road officials are trying to bring them back the former situation of the road because of what they gain from that system,” he says.