Jaji Sambo, the Minister of Transportation, has stated that he will not tolerate another Apapa at the Lekki-Epe axis for the movement of commodities in and out of the port.
He mentioned this during the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria, MARAN 34th Anniversary and Awards with the theme: “16 years of Port Concession: The Pains And The Gains, held in Lagos.
“Lekki Deep Sea Port, I have told them I do not want them to transfer products to or from that port by road,” Sambo added. There is no rationale for another Apapa in the Lekki-Epe axis, and I will not allow it. To begin, we must perform barge operations, which would create a large number of jobs for individuals who do barges, build barges, and others in the chain. Build capacity for our people at the same time.
“I was quite upset when I went to Onne and witnessed containers being opened for physical examination. I went to see the Comptroller General of Customs, CG Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), specifically to ask for his assistance in removing the scanner chamber, which is an impediment to the rail link into the port. He informed me that we were meant to have paid to cleanse the area, and then they would come and remove the pavements after some time. I went back to the ministry and inquired, and was told that the ministry had made that payment a long time ago.
“I will go back with evidence to show the CG that payment has been made a long time ago and there is no reason why that building should still be standing, I do not understand how and why in this age we are still carrying products via the road.
“When I was walking with the National Inland Water Ways Authority, NIWA, it used to pain me that the inland waterways transit mode was never established.
“Now that I’m in the driver’s seat, there are two projects in the ministry of transportation that are near to my heart, the one that is supposed to act as a hub to Marina when the ship comes into the harbor to make their shipment. The other is channel management; there is a company with Chinese investors interested and capable of managing this channel. I’ve informed my ministry colleagues that if I don’t get these two projects off the ground, people will cry. If these two ventures do not take off next year, I will set an example for certain individuals.
“So when we supply the alternatives then we can now tell the haulage people that you can no longer take petroleum products by road, you can no longer take cement by road, and our roads would even endure longer. The destruction on our roadways caused by these articulated trucks, as well as the number of fatalities caused by these vehicles, would be decreased.
“I am also delighted to have noted that on my visit to the CG he said one of the challenges they had was that they have scanners in the port but those scanners were not functioning; only a few weeks ago the minister of finance visited to commission it. When I return, I hope to discover that, now that the scanners have been commissioned, we will witness significant improvements in the clearing procedure.
“One of the things I’m also looking into is the port community system, which is our best bet for getting our cargo out of our port in a couple of hours. If smaller African countries’ port community systems can function, why can’t ours?
“The deep blue project is responsible for protecting Nigeria’s maritime domain, but in the year since President Muhammadu Buhari launched this project in Lagos, we have not had any cases of piracy in our maritime domain, and I think that is an achievement in the sense that in the next year or two, if we are able to convince the International Maritime Organization, IMO, and others, then our insurance cost for goods imported into Nigeria would be much lower because right now, our insurance cost for goods imported into Nigeria is much higher because
