Lagos State Government has given a seven-day ultimatum to truck drivers parking indiscriminately along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway to remove them or have them impounded.

Chairman of Apapa Traffic Management and Enforcement Committee and Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Transportation, Oluwatoyin Fayinka, handed out the fresh ultimatum on Thursday.

A number of analysts and concerned organisations have accused vested groups and individuals of frustrating several efforts made to address the gridlock for the purpose of extortion.

But Fayinka, who spoke with Vanguard, accused the truck drivers of undermining efforts of the team by parking indiscriminately along the road, particularly on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, causing gridlock and subjecting motorists to untold hardship.

He said the seven-day ultimatum was sent to the leadership of truck drivers’ unions to comply with the directive or risk being sanctioned.

Fayinka warned that after the expiration of the grace the team would embark on total enforcement, saying “There will be no sacred cow.”

This came as the state government has debunked allegation of racketeering by its officials deployed to address the perennial gridlock at the port access road.

Speaking during an interview on Arise News Channel, the Senior Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Central Business District and Head of Operation, Apapa Traffic Management and Enforcement Team, Mr Sola Giwa, said the port authorities have designated a parking space and a ticket payment portal to reduce the gridlock in Apapa.

The Apapa Traffic Management and Enforcement Committee has also activated the Electronic Call-Up System (ETO) designed to sequence and batch trucks coming into Apapa and Tincan Island ports.

Set up by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to address the perennial traffic gridlock in Apapa area, he maintained that the committee was winning the war against traffic congestion and extortion of truck owners and drivers in the axis with the ETO.

He said there has been great improvement compared to the situation of things nine months ago during the manual call up system, where trucks going to the ports usually caused heavy traffic from Onipanu to Apapa and from Cele bus stop to Tincan Island areas of Lagos respectively.

Giwa explained: “Racketeering in Apapa is a false accusation. For those who said they have been collecting money from them, we want to see the evidence and we take it up. You can make a video of anyone that wants to collect money from you.

“The arrangement is for traffic management on the road and not what happens in the port. The simple truth about racketeering is that stalkers still want to come to port following the due process.

“They book and pay for their ticket and they start coming even when there is no available space for them. What we did was that we created a time-belt for the category of trucks that wanted to come to the port, but they ignored them, so they decided to come to the port anytime.

“Basically, what we had before now was a manual collection. We have one lane going into Apapa, and someone who has 50 trucks will want to bring in all the trucks and that’s how the issue of gridlock started. As I speak now, there is no static traffic in Apapa. The NPA has approved parks where these trucks move into. You can from the comfort of your home book a ticket, state the terminal you are going to, then you are allotted a particular park and from there you will be called to the terminal and that has been what is working in Apapa.”

Giwa also attributed some of the challenges hindering flow of transportation at the ports areas to those known as ‘Movers’ who according to him were fighting hard to frustrate the Electronic Call-Up System because they are not comfortable with the new system, which has stopped their corrupt practices.

He said parts of the measures put in place by the enforcement committee to address traffic congestion is creating ‘time-belt’ for different categories of trucks – export containers, empty containers, flat beds, manufacturing, and oil and gas – to move at different times in and out of the ports.

Giwa said the major challenges facing the port were bad roads and stalkers who visit the port unscheduled.

He added that there have been ongoing meetings with constituted authorities to get the bad road fixed and eradicate stalkers from Apapa.

“I must say that for Tincan Island, we have issues. We have met with representatives of the federal government, ministry of works and it’s going to take time to fix the road. Secondly for the stalkers, they should go to the designated truck parks,” he said.