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Published 26 January 2021
THE fresh alarm raised by stakeholders over the astronomical cost of haulage within the Lagos ports area demonstrates the desperate need for a quick solution, especially as Nigeria continues to suffer the crushing effects of economic recession.
According to a recent report by the Financial Times of London, the congestion at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos has become so bad that trucking a container from the port to the mainland, which is just about 20 kilometres, now costs about $4,000 (N1.5 million). That is almost the same cost as shipping one container from China to Nigeria, a distance of 12,000 nautical miles. This is a costly economic hurdle that must be surmounted immediately.
The Frontlines By Joseph Ushigiale
Who are the sole beneficiaries of the current revenue drive being enforced by the Presidential Task Force on Ports Decongestion and Easing Apapa Gridlock?
The question has become pertinent because whoever is vested with the responsibility of supervising the task force, if he is not the sole beneficiary, ought to know by now that the task force has since outlived its usefulness and it is now operating beyond its brief extorting various sums ranging from N50,000 to N200,000 to grant access to port users. To maximum its profiteering, it has also resorted to illegally mounting all manner of obstacles and roadblocks which constitute the revenue collection points all over Apapa to make life utterly unbearable for port users and residents of Apapa.