Men Who Cleared Tin Can, Apapa Ports Access Road
...How they broke 13 years jinx of poor accessibility
Governor Babajide Sanwolu of Lagos State, Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mohammed Bello-Koko; Port Manager of Tin Can Island Ports Complex, Sylvester Othuke Egede and Port Manager of Apapa Port Complex, Charles Bamidele Okaga have jointly restored the old status of free access to the Lagos Ports along Apapa -Oshodi expressway
After about 13 years of harrowing experience by port users coming into the Tin Can Island and Apapa Port Complex due to impassable road along the Apapa Oshodi Expressway corridor, the jinx was broken in February 2024.
Today, seamless access to the ports has become a wonderful experience as most persons working in Apapa enjoyed such free traffic from Mile 2 to Apapa in 2011 after which there have been federal and state government interventionist agencies that failed to solve it.
By their converted efforts, criminal elements that created abodes along the corridor were not only dislodged as their erected illegal hideouts along the road were removed creating an atmosphere of safety, zero interruptions and eradicating extortion which became a clog in the ease of doing business agenda of the federal government.
Governor Sanwolu deployed Lagos State Government strength in an unrelenting manner with sustained collaboration with the management of NPA in ensuring that the plan of the port landlord to allow only electronically called up trucks to approach the ports work.
On his part, NPA MD, Bello-Koko applied a combination of technology and manpower assisted by uncompromising supervision in stopping trucks and tankers from making the port access roads their holding bay for parking or maintenance of faulty heavy duty trucks
Egede and Okaga being port managers on the ground worked round the clock, day and night to prevent a breach of the process and eliminate a system that has caused losses to businesses and made some to pay the supreme price of death while either trying to access or exit the ports.
JournalNG gathered that the duo of Egede and Okaga had daily direct dealings with operators of haulage trucks, security agencies and other members of the port community using the road to achieve compliance.
The sad story of export laden trucks spending too many days in transit to enter the port which has caused losses as a result of perishable nature of some commodities have become a thing of the past
