The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has begun the second phase of the Port Standing Task Team’s (PSST) ‘Operation Free the Port Corridors’ project, which aims to remove all illegal checkpoints, shanties, and indiscriminate parks along port access roads in order to improve the Federal Government’s ease of doing business mandate.
The workout will include the Apapa/Tin-Can, Coconut/Berger Yard, Mile 2/ Orile, and Ijora axes.
Gbemisola Saraki, Minister of State for Transportation, said last Friday in Lagos that the Port Standing Task Team would abolish all corrupt practices, unlawful checkpoints, and shanties along the port corridors hampering business in the nation’s seaports.
According to the Minister, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, and the Deputy Director, Adams Ofie, the project would ensure that the persistent issues of gridlock and corruption along the port corridors were no longer a concern.
She praised PSTT members for their accomplishments in their assigned tasks, while emphasizing that the ministry is aware of their problems, which include insufficient logistics and operational demands for more robust and effective fulfillment of the mission.
According to her, the task team request is being considered by the ministry for possible intervention and rapid facilitation of logistics and operational needs for flawless implementation.
The second part of the drill, according to NSC Executive Secretary Emmanuel Jime, would cover Apapa/Tin-Can, Coconut/Berger Yard, Mile 2/ Orile, and Ijora axis.
He claimed that the 15.6-kilometer stretch of road is strewn with shanties and trucks parked haphazardly, causing immense hardships for other motorists and providing opportunities for extortion and other sorts of corrupt acts by both governments and non-state actors.
The start of the second phase, according to the NSC boss, is proof of the Port Standing Task Team’s performance during the first phase, despite logistical and operational problems.
He said the successes recorded were not without dire consequences including stern resistance, intimidation, a threat to lives and physical assault of the operatives, including the national Co-coordinator as well as the destruction of gadgets and vehicles.
In his remarks, the National Coordinator of the Task Team, Moses Fadipe, expressed appreciation to other security agencies for their commitment to the mandate of the PSTT, noting that without their support and professionalism, the operational successes recorded so far would have been impossible.
According to him, many industry players, observers and commentators have acknowledged that the bold step to rid the ports’ corridors of illegal checkpoints and other forms of corrupt practices has yielded tremendous success.
This, he said, is most evident in the sanity established in the movement of traffic in the outbound route of Apapa port gate to Ijora, which is a distance of about 2.6 kilometres, which was the focus of the Task Team during the first phase of operations.
“These widely acknowledged successes were achieved but not without challenges. The major challenges were those of inadequate logistics and manpower. There were also hazardous encounters where personnel of the task team was harassed, assaulted and even held hostage on one occasion. In all of these, we remained upbeat as we were able to brace the storm,” he said.
He appreciated the support of the ministry in pressing on the sister agencies to shoulder some of the financial and logistics responsibilities of the task team as he noted that the burden of funding the task team is solely on the NSC despite its paucity of income.
He stressed that the intervention of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), will be greatly appreciated in this regard, adding that the PSTT required more pick-up vans in the fleet to aid the operation more effectively.
Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner of Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde assured that the state will continue to give its backing to ensure the gridlock that has made it difficult to access the ports will be eliminated.
He said the state government has commissioned the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Park to take over 2,500 trucks to reduce indiscriminate parking of trucks along the roads causing traffic.
THE GUARDIANS
