As stakeholders lament the persistent traffic gridlock within the Apapa port city, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi, has advised that the provision of adequate rail lines connecting the ports with major cities in Nigeria would be the panacea to the perennial nightmare.
Abdullahi made this assertion while speaking at a stakeholders’ forum with the Senate Committee on Marine held recently in Lagos. According to him, the authority is the worst hit by the perennial gridlock and was therefore very eager to see that permanent solution is proffered to the problem.
He regretted that the rail lines which used to convey cargoes from the ports to other parts of the country are no longer functioning, adding that the resuscitation of these services would further reduce the hardship being faced by commuters and other stakeholders.
According to him, transportation of petroleum products by rail from the ports to the North, particularly Kano, which he witnessed as a youth, was no longer existing hence his call on relevant authorities to rise up to the challenge.
While pledging the readiness of the authority to complement the efforts of other agencies whose responsibilities it is to provide the needed facilities, Abdullahi suggested that petroleum products could be piped from the ports to other destinations if the pipelines are also made right.
Earlier, the Chairman of the committee and former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Yerima Ahmed Sani, said the committee embarked on the exercise as a result of the resolutions passed by the Senate expressing concern over the gridlock, assuring it will not leave any stone unturned in ensuring that the problem of gridlock in Apapa is solved.
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