Stakeholders in the Lekki Deep Seaport corridor have vowed to take drastic measures to eradicate the perennial traffic gridlock that has bedevilled the access roads leading to the port and surrounding industrial sites for over a year.
The resolution was reached at a strategic stakeholders meeting convened by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and chaired by the Lekki Port Manager, Mr Emmanuel Anda. Present at the meeting were representatives of Lagos State, Lekki Port, Dangote Refinery, truck owners, the Electronic Truck Call-Up System (ETO) and other critical stakeholders, reports The Nation.
Meeting participants unanimously agreed that stationary trucks and tankers would no longer be allowed to occupy the roads within the Lekki Port corridor, emphasising that all vehicles must utilise designated holding bays and waiting areas until they are called into the port or industrial facilities.
The parties that had earlier examined the Lekki Port access corridor were firsthand to the depth of the traffic situation. They came back from the tour with a determination that the situation could not be allowed to continue.
Speaking at the meeting, the representative of Mycallup, an electronic truck call-up system for the Lekki Port corridor, Timi Koteolu, said one of the major contributors to the traffic congestion had been the movement of trucks servicing Dangote Refinery outside the electronic call-up system.
Koteolu said numerous truck drivers holding Dangote facility’s Authority to Collect (ATC) permits had been seen to be parking arbitrarily along the roadways while awaiting admission into the facility.
He also said that the Dangote refinery trucks are not part of the port’s call-up system at the moment, hence the delay.
In reaction, the Dangote Refinery representative, Mr Jaiyeola Moshood stated the ATC provided to tankers is their access to their facility.
The ETO administration again stressed that vehicles not on an active call-up should not be in the port corridor but in designated waiting zones until the terminals were ready for them.
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