Osinbajo speaks on plan to decongest Apapa gridlock

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, said the Federal Government was committed to building more ports across the country to decongest the gridlock in and out of the Apapa ports.
Osinbajo made this known Saturday in an interview with the Newsmen after inspecting the Lilipond transit truck park, Creek Road and other networks of roads leading to the Apapa port.
He was accompanied to the tour by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman, among others.
“We need to understand that this is a port that was designed to take 34 million metric tonnes daily but it is currently taking over 80 million metric tonnes.
“With this, it is obvious that there is a need to find an alternative quickly and to expand, where that is possible.
“The Lekki port is an ongoing project which will be a great help when completed because it will support the Apapa and Tin Can ports.
“Also, we are dredging the Warri Port which is aimed to decongest the traffic into and out of the Apapa and Tin Can Ports,” Osinbajo said.
The Vice President noted that the Federal Government would continue to implement short and long term measures to ensure a long-lasting solution to the gridlock in the Apapa area of the state and its environs.
“You will see that the entry route to the port has been cleared. So, we need to understand that there are short term and mid to long term solutions.
“One of the mid-to-long term measures is to decongest the cargo traffic coming into the port,” he said.
Osinbajo noted that the government was set to improve infrastructure and call up system for trucks and the ports while working on harnessing opportunities of the intermodal transport system.