Plying Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos is a nightmare.
Articulated vehicles heading in and out of the Apapa ports, the largest and busiest in West Africa, line up several kilometers of access roads, exploiting government’s laxity towards enforcing relevant laws.
As at Wednesday, the vehicles completely or partially blocked sections of the expressway inward Mile 2.
The situation has led to the breakdown of law and order as motorists, especially commercial bus drivers, resort to driving on the wrong side of the road, from Toyota bus-stop to Mile 2.
“The vehicles have formed long queues that extend from Mile 2 down to Cele Bus Stop,” said a resident of FESTAC Town who uses the road daily.
“I did not get home until about midnight on Tuesday despite leaving the office at 6 pm,” she lamented.
A commercial bus driver, who identified himself as Kunle, said him and many of his colleagues now drive against traffic regularly in order to avoid spending hours in the traffic. He, however, acknowledged the danger in doing that.
“It is not our wish to drive one-way. It is dangerous for us, our passengers and those crossing the expressway,” Kunle said.
“We pray the government does something about the tankers very soon.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Groups, Aliko Dangote, and other business operators in 2017 estimated that the economy lost about N20 billion daily to the lockdown. At that rate, Nigeria loses about N7.28 trillion per annum.
It also makes importers incur unnecessary demurrage, aiding the diversion of cargo to the more business-friendly ports in the Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.