TheCable

Major oil marketers, tanker drivers and transport owners have lauded the efforts of the western navy command of the Nigerian navy through the joint security task force for their intervention in clearing the Apapa gridlock.

The force is said to be led by the Sag Abbah, a rear admiral, and Okon Eyo, the commander of Nigerian navy ship (NNS) Beecroft.

The gridlock is caused by the on-going road reconstruction in the axis.

The Petroleum Drivers Tankers Association (PTDA), Nigerian Association of Road Truck Owners (NARTO), Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and major oil marketers said the clearance of the gridlock has opened up the Apapa area for more business operations and eased timely delivery of their services.

In a statement issued on Thursday, they noted that the intervention helped to improve the turn-around time of the downstream sector by reducing the turning around time for loading products from the depots and delivery of the products to retail outlets.

They explained that the gridlock has been completely cleared on the highways leading into Apapa, leaving Western Avenue on the Surulere and Orile Iganmu axis as the problem spot.

“Aside this, the Navy has maintained an effective cover over the Apapa area and has forged a fluid partnership with Major Marketers and associated Unions in the downstream in ensuring a smooth passage of traffic with positive impact on businesses and commuters along the Apapa corridor,” the statement read.

According to the statement, a tanker driver simply identified as Ibrahim, said since the navy took over the clearing operations, “there has been the deployment of an effective logistic strategy which involves the use of call card signed by the Navy commander for authentication of Trucks due for loading and passage into the Apapa area.”

Ibrahim said though there were teething problems associated to the call card system, due largely to the newness of its use by tanker drivers, it has proved efficient in reducing the turnaround time for loading and delivery of products.

Another tanker driver, Ahmed Issa, also said the absence of traffic was due to the concerted efforts of all the marketers and tanker drivers as they all obeyed the command of the naval officers “who were strict with what they wanted to achieve.

Issa, however, urged the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) officials to liaise with the concessionaire of Lillipond, a parking space that can contain thousands of trucks at once, to open the park for trailers that want to load from the ports instead of allowing them to pay demurrages and also park on the roads.

“The major marketers are seeking permission from the Navy commander to let their trucks move to the operators holding bay because as observed, the trucks being on the queue is not too good since their holding bay in the area can contain more than 400 trucks,” the statement continued.

An official of a major marketer with tankers in the area was quoted to have said: “Our trucks should not be on the queue but at our various holding bays to increase turnaround as we all have parking space outside the area which makes it hard to understand the reason why trucks have to be on the queue and cause the gridlock”.

The official said they have resolved to embrace the call card system introduced by the naval authorities as “they see themselves as partners in progress with the navy but want little adjustment to take care of some unforeseen occurrences especially as regards loading and delivering products around Apapa.”

On whether payment was done before the gridlock was cleared, he said it was a voluntary effort from the combined security team.

“The operation you see, we did not contribute money to make it happen and the Navy did not ask for money,” the official was quoted to have said.

“What you see is the gracious effort of the Navy by not keeping their men in the barracks but rather choosing to deploy them to help arrest an hitherto hopeless situation, thus clearing roads with great economic importance to Nigeria.

“Again, it is important to mention that the state government has a security arm called ‘Operation Messa’ which is a combination of the Navy, Army, Air force and the Police and they all combined to make the gridlock disappear within a month.”