Kunle ADELABU
-Ikorodu must be carried along in any concessionary arrangement at the port – Hon. Benson
Terrible state of Sekumade/Port Authority road, Ikorodu
Residents of Ikorodu Local Government in Ikorodu Division of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, have cried out to the Federal and the Lagos State Governments over the state of the Sekumade road which is also known as Port Authority Road in Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area.
The Road, which was reconstructed by CONSTENG Construction Company during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor of the state, has since collapsed due to lack of maintenance as directed by the contractor.
The contractor had advised that the road, which wasn’t design for heavy duty vehicles, should be relayed every year and asphalt resurfacing be applied every two years.
Failure to adhere strictly to these recommendations, especially in the last four years, has caused the collapsed of the road and consequently bringing about traffic and attendant lost of man-hour on the road.
Residents have also complained about the damages which the bad portions of the road have caused to their vehicles.
Aside the collapsed state of the road, Ikorodu residents are also lamenting over the indiscriminate parking of heavy duty trucks belonging to the Port Authority and Dangote company which are also operating within the port.
THE IMPACT gathered that the recent upsurge of activities at the Ikorodu Port Terminal was due to the motion by the House of Representatives in 2018.
The motion, which was moved by Hon. Babajimi Benson representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency at the House, and titled, ‘Need to address the under utilization of Ikorodu Lighter Terminal and making it an export gateway’, was aimed at taking the port out of its moribund state and boosting the economic and social developments of the community.
Moving the motion, Hon Benson had stated that Ikorodu Lighter Terminal was among the ports constructed to decongest major ports in the country but that it is being underutilized.
He argued that the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal’s capacity can be expanded to an export gateway by putting its facilities to maximum use. This according to him, will open up the economy by Nigeria’s non-oil export.
Presently, the terminal is being put to maximum usage but with attendant challenges to the residents.
In a phone chat with Hon Benson on the protest by the residents over the indiscriminate parking of trucks along the Sekumade road and the allegation that the trucks contributed greatly to the collapsed of the road, he stated that efforts are in place to engage the Managing Director (MD), Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza, on how to find solutions to the challenges being faced on the road.
Aside the terrible state of the road, indiscriminate parking of heavy duty trucks by Dangote and NPA drivers causing serious traffic and posing danger to motorists
“My attempt to see the Managing Director (MD), Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza, has not yielded any success due to the recently concluded general elections but I will be seeing her very soon to discuss how to rehabilitate the road.”
The IMPACT also gathered that the lawmaker played a prominent role in stopping the concessionary arrangement at the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal, which was expected to have taking effect last year, due to failure to interface with the host community.
Speaking on the failed commissioning of the concessionary arrangement, Hon. Benson stated that :
“We only called them to give us details of the arrangement and my position is that they must hold stakeholders’ meetings to engage the host community because we have benefitted nothing from the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) in Ikorodu.
“I know NPA to be very generous in other communities where they operate but I don’t know why Ikorodu is an exception.”
He informed that part of the plans for the Ikorodu Lighter Terminal is to use it to enhance transportation of local produce, particularly agricultural products, but insisted that there must be stakeholders’ engagement before anything plan is allowed to be executed.
A resident, Funmilayo Twins Akerele, while lamenting on her daily experiences on Sekumade road, stated:
“Yes, it’s terrible. We spent 45minutes on that road every morning. Something needed to be done urgently. “
Mr Oloyede Aladepupo, a Public analyst, simply stated while reacting:
“Save our souls, Gov. Ambode.”
Mr Ohireimen Monday Obadan, a Community developer, who plies the road every day, also wrote about the road:
“Failed! Collapsed!! Save our souls!!!”
When contacted, a Senior Custom Officer with the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), Ikorodu Lighter Terminal, who did not disclose his name because he was not authorised to speak with the media, stated that the port authority is working towards sanitizing the activities of the truck drivers.
“We are working towards sanitizing the conducts of the truck drivers by preventing them from parking indiscriminately.
“You should understand that gas activities have increased at the port in recent time but that is not an excuse for not maintaining sanity on the road.
“You should know the attitude of all these truck drivers. We have warned them severally but we are still going to do more to ensure sanity on the road.
“The port is working with necessary authority to do palliative measures on the road. I can assure that we are more than ready to ensure compliance on the road by the truck drivers. “
He denied any knowledge of the letter allegedly written to the Custom-General regarding the road by the Sekumade of Ipakodo, His Royal Majesty, Oba Bashir Sotonwa, Sekumade of Ipakodo.
While it was easy to get a custom officer at their office within the port premises in Ipakodo to speak on the issue, it has been an herculean task to get the management of the Dangote Pasta to respond to the allegation that their trucks, aside parking indiscriminately on the road, contributed to its collapse.
When our reporter visited the company located within the Port Authority premises at Ebute in Ikorodu on Monday, April 16, 2019, he was told that he could not see any of the officials and was asked to come back the next day.
When our reporter visited the next day, he was directed to the Human Resources Department despite requesting to see the Public Affairs Officer who a senior security man said was “too big to attend to our reporter”.
When our reporter got to the Human Resource (HR) officer (name withheld) as directed and raised the issue, she stated that the issue was beyond her to comment upon and then booked our reporter for an appointment with the Group Share Resource Manager (GSRM) who we gathered comes to Ikorodu office twice a week from the head office.
Again, when our reporter got to the Dangote office on Thursday, April 18, 2019, he was told that the HR officer was on leave and that the GSRM was not available and was subsequently directed to the Corporate Affairs office.
After spending about an hour at the corporate affairs office of the company, a staff member eventually attended to our reporter and told him that he could not give him adequate information and that the officers that could help would not be able available for the day.
