- That is what the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway has become
Motorists and residents along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway have described the Federal Government as insensitive to their plight. Some even claim there is no government in place, otherwise why should the expressway remain impassable for nearly a decade? Clearly, Nigerians living and doing business along that expressway are paying hugely for the gross incompetence of the Federal Government to maintain the road to the Apapa and Tin Can ports, from which it generates millions of dollars annually.
We agree that the Federal Government has been complicit in dealing with the challenges facing motorists and residents along the expressway. While past governments allowed the road to deteriorate and also sold the parking spaces in the ports, the present government has had enough time to ameliorate the challenges. It is the failure to keep even recent promises by the present government that has led to the lamentations of motorists and residents on the road.
Unless in a war time, why should the gateway to the nation’s two major ports be impassable? And to make matters worse, the Federal Government has been slow in getting other ports across the country ready for business. In fact, it is unbelievable that instead of making our ports business-friendly, the maritime industry in Nigeria is in ruins, while that of our neighbouring countries are booming. With our ports inaccessible, importers prefer to use other ports, while they smuggle goods into our country.
After an outcry last year, the Federal Government set up a task force made up of the military and para-military agencies to restore sanity on the road. Unfortunately, that measure has yielded very little. Indeed, the occasional succour which the task force provides has become a source of controversy, with the truck drivers accusing them of extortion before they are allowed to gain access to the ports.
To compound the challenge, the highways have become a living quarters for many drivers. They defecate, bath, cook and play on the highway. The bad eggs amongst them mug other motorists and rape women on the road. With their long vehicles parked on the road, other motorists are forced to do time there, like prisoners. A journey which ordinarily should take a car 20 minutes from Oshodi to Apapa, sometimes takes as long as 24 hours; while the truck-drivers spend weeks to access the ports.
Many who supported the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari consider it a monumental tragedy that nearly four years since he assumed power, the criminal neglect of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway by the past regimes persists. While his government has shown promising signs, the hardship has not abated. Agreed, the concrete asphalt of the Iganmu-Apapa end was completed last year, there is little or no action on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, and the suffering can only get worse with the rains coming.
To genuinely lay claim to be a democratic government, the Federal Government must find a solution to the gridlock on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. The promise to deliver a new truck park at Tin Can and Orile Iganmu must be delivered by the Federal Government without further delay. After all, it was the sale of the ports to private companies without sparing a thought for where the tankers and trailers waiting to discharge or load goods will park that has compounded the crisis.
Regrettably, the promise to deliver rail lines, to relieve the trucks and tankers plying the route has not materialised. While the people continue to groan, the economic losses continue to soar. With utmost haste, the Federal Government must move to save the lives and economy of those living along the Oshodi-Apapa E xpressway.
