Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), on Sunday July 6, inspected the traffic congestion points at the Mile 2 under bridge of the Lagos–Badagry Expressway and Creek Road in Apapa.
For weeks, residents of the areas have complained to the Government over the pains of obstruction and traffic congestion on the roads, which have been caused by the combination of continuous trading on the road, dumping of refuse in the drainage and fuel tankers who are seeking to load fuel from the tank farms in the area.
In his reply to questions from newsmen after the inspection of Creek Road, which has been taken over by the fuel tankers, Fashola said that Government was prepared to wait for a week, as promised by the operators, to organize the parking of their tankers in a way that traffic could move on the road.
Fashola also said that owners of the oil companies that have tank farms in Apapa would visit the area in the course of the week as a group “to see for themselves how they make profit and the cost of that profit on ordinary citizens”.
At the Mile 2 stopover, the Governor identified the main cause of the Mile 2 problem to be the undergoing expansion of the road which contractors have to work on while people use the road.
He noted that it would have been easier for Government to shut down the road for 2 months while work was going on, but this was not possible. “So this is part of what causes the inconvenience, we have to build while citizens use the roads”, he explained.
He, however, appealed to the citizens and residents not to contribute to the problem by trading on the road but to restrain themselves by doing things the proper way and to also bear with the Government over the inconveniences they suffer.
He assured the people that some of the tanker operators have promised to leave one lane free on Creek Road to allow traffic to move within the area.
Also present at the inspections was the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and his Environment counterpart, Mr. Tunji Bello; the Special Adviser on Works and Infrastructure, Ganiyu Johnson; the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando PLC, Mr. Wale Tinubu; and the Publisher of Business Day, Mr. Frank Aigbogun.
Members of NUPENG, some residents of Apapa and a representative of the tank farm operators also met the team at Apapa.
