Lagos gridlock: Stakeholders agree to free roads before weekend

Seeking ways to end the worsening Lagos traffic jam, stakeholders at an emergency meeting, Wednesday, agreed to free roads and bridges being currently occupied by petroleum tankers and trucks in an anticipated relief to the people and the much bashed economy.

Lagos is said to be losing over N50 billion annually to traffic jam. In the last three weeks or thereabout, parts of the state especially Apapa and environs had remained locked down as fuel shortage, perhaps the worst in the life of the out-going President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, continues.

The situation has thrown up serious security challenge as motorists and commuters are now being robbed at will in traffic jams, with Bolaji Dada, the executive secretary of Apapa local government, calling for the intervention of the police and other security agencies.

Indeed, the hope of any sooner break from the fuel scarcity dimmed on Wednesday, with major marketers under the aegis of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) insisting that the Federal Government still owed them a balance of N200 billion from oil subsidy, claiming they currently have no financial wherewithal to import product into the country unless the debt is settled.

Obafemi Olawore, the executive secretary of MOMAN, who was cornered after the stakeholders’ meeting which held in Ikeja, confirmed that no Federal Government official was talking to them on how to settle the debt, a situation he said was frustrating their business.

“As we speak nobody from the government is talking to us.”

He also faulted claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that there was fuel enough for local consumption, saying, “Let the NNPC point to a depot where it has enough fuel. Truth is there is no fuel to lift,” he said.

Around Apapa, the much desired relief from the gridlock is not likely to come before this weekend. Commuters, motorists, residents and businesses would live with the current burden till next week.

Although the Lagos State government at the stakeholders agreed to a 48-hour ultimatum to the petroleum tanker and truck drivers to remove their vehicles from the roads and bridges, actual enforcement of the ultimatum which expires midnight of Friday (tomorrow), would begin on Sunday.

Kayode Opeifa, the Lagos State commissioner for transportation, who chaired the meeting said law enforcement agencies, police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would start with persuasion and would only begin towing the trucks and arresting recalcitrant drivers with effect from Sunday.