Apapa, host to Nigeria’s maritime hub, is in the news again. Indeed, the Mile 2-Apapa corridor in Lagos is once again buckling under suffocating gridlock. Users of the roads, especially between Mile 2 and Kirikiri, blame the proliferation of container terminals. According to Vanguard, trucks transporting empty containers routinely occupy the highway, creating bottlenecks despite the presence of traffic management officials. The gridlock must be resolved permanently.
This is unacceptable on the principal gateway to Apapa and Tin Can ports, which together handle about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s maritime trade. That commuters and businesses are forced to abandon journeys because traffic has become practically immovable is a damning indictment of the country’s inability to sustain solutions to an entirely preventable problem.
For decades, successive federal and Lagos State governments have announced one intervention after another. Yet, the corridor remains trapped in a vicious cycle of congestion, lawlessness, official negligence and vested interests that profit from chaos.
The Federal Government reconstructed critical port access roads, including the Apapa-Wharf Road, Creek Road and the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, with private firms such as Dangote and Flour Mills contributing substantially to the projects.
The Nigerian Ports Authority and the Lagos State Government also introduced the Electronic Truck Call-up System (Eto) to regulate truck movements and keep articulated vehicles off the roads until they were scheduled to enter the ports.
However, reports persist that some tank farm operators have refused to comply with the system. Such defiance should attract swift sanctions. Rules exist to be obeyed, not negotiated.
Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, a task force led by then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo dismantled illegal checkpoints, removed trucks from bridges and designated holding bays such as the Lilypond Terminal and ABAT Truck Terminal to accommodate vehicles awaiting entry into the ports.
The police, Nigerian Navy and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority jointly cleared illegal truck parks and extortion points. Predictably, the gains proved short-lived.
The failure illustrates a familiar Nigerian malaise: whenever reforms are introduced, powerful interests quickly devise ways to circumvent them.
A digital process is soon compromised by human interference; regulations are weakened by bribery; enforcement gives way to selective compliance.
Instead of solving problems, many public officials and private operators convert them into opportunities for rent-seeking.
Truck operators have repeatedly alleged that the Eto system has been corrupted, with officials collecting inducements to move favoured trucks from the back of the queue to the front. If true, such practices destroy public confidence and render the technology meaningless.
The human interface must therefore be drastically reduced. Port access should be driven by transparent digital platforms that leave little room for discretion, manipulation or extortion. Illegal checkpoints, where motorists and truck operators are routinely fleeced, should be permanently dismantled rather than periodically cleared.
The Apapa terminal reportedly receives between 150 and 200 empty containers daily but only accepts fresh deliveries after previously stored containers have been evacuated. This operational constraint should not be an excuse for indiscriminate parking on public roads.
Equally troubling is the inability of law enforcement agencies to enforce discipline among truck drivers, many of whom abandon designated holding bays to queue indiscriminately on highways.
Tank farms that generate enormous truck traffic should be relocated over time to states with sufficient land for modern logistics infrastructure rather than remaining crammed into an already overburdened urban environment.
The NPA spokesman, Ikechukwu Onyemechara, has assured the public that measures are being taken to address the latest congestion. Nigerians have heard similar assurances before. This time, measurable results, not promises, are required.
The consequences extend far beyond traffic inconvenience. Persistent congestion, arbitrary charges, endless delays and multiple extortion points have steadily eroded the competitiveness of Nigerian ports. Increasing volumes of cargo destined for Nigeria are diverted through neighbouring ports in Benin, Togo and Ghana before finding their way into the country by road. This deprives Nigeria of customs revenue, port charges, shipping business and thousands of jobs while enriching competing economies.
It is therefore encouraging that the Lekki Deep Sea Port is now operational. The concentration of maritime activities at Apapa and Tin Can should be urgently reviewed. More container traffic should be redirected to Lekki, where there is room for expansion towards Epe, unlike the densely developed Apapa axis, which is already overwhelmed by residential, commercial and industrial activities.
Beyond Lagos, infrastructure at the Eastern ports in Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar should be upgraded without further delay.
The proposed deep seaports in Akwa Ibom and Ogun states also deserve accelerated implementation, while river ports at Onitsha, Oguta and Baro, alongside inland dry ports, should be integrated into a national freight strategy. Distributing cargo across several ports would decongest Lagos, reduce axle loads on highways and stimulate regional economic development.
Every major port should also be linked to an efficient rail network to reduce dependence on trucks and lower logistics costs.
Finally, Nigeria must embrace global best practices in port management. Successful maritime nations increasingly rely on professionally regulated private operators competing under strong public oversight.
Efficient ports thrive on automation, transparency and strict enforcement, not on bottlenecks that create opportunities for bribery and rule-breaking.
Nigeria cannot aspire to become West Africa’s maritime hub while its premier ports remain synonymous with chaos, extortion and crippling delays.
As long as importers find it cheaper, faster and more predictable to route cargo through Cotonou, Lomé or Tema before bringing it into Nigeria, the country will continue to surrender revenue, investment and jobs to its neighbours.
Until Nigeria confronts its culture of impunity, where regulations are routinely bent, and congestion becomes a lucrative business for extortionists, Apapa’s notorious gridlock will remain a recurring national embarrassment rather than a problem awaiting a solution.
Yet what has been lacking is not policy but the political will to confront powerful interests that feed on dysfunction.
The shameful cycle must be broken. Now. Apapa must function as a modern commercial gateway, not as a monument to official failure.
Nigerians deserve ports that facilitate trade instead of frustrating it, and a transport system where compliance with the law, not bribery and impunity, determines who gets access.
