Tin Can road clean up: Set up task force to sustain sanity, Adeyanju urges NPA

The President General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, has urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to set up a monitoring task force to sustain the traffic flow around the Tin Can Island port access road.

For nearly a decade, the port access roads, particularly the stretch between Mile 2 and Tin Can Island Port, have been plagued by gridlock caused by iindiscriminate parking of trucks on the roadside.

However, a recent joint operation by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State Government successfully addressed the problem as sanitation efforts removed the obstructions, leading to a significant improvement in traffic flow.

Speaking in a chat with newsmen on Friday, Adeyanju commended the NPA and Lagos State Governor for taking decisive action to clear the road of shanties and illegal checkpoints.

The MWUN PG, however, emphasized the need for sustained efforts to prevent the traffic from returning, urging the NPA to take responsibility for monitoring and enforcement.

He said, “We need to thank the management of NPA and the Lagos State government because the governor took the matter upon himself to ensure that there is sanity on the road.

“All of us can smile home today without any stress. This is what we have been asking them to do for almost five to six years but they did it within few days. So tell me where are those trucks now? If you don’t have any business on the road why bring your truck to the road to cause obstruction to other port users and stakeholders?

“I want them to sustain it and the bulk lies with the NPA. You can’t say because the road is a federal road and allow those causing nuisance and obstructing traffic flow to come back again. NPA should take responsibility of monitoring the access roads. If there is need they should have a stand- by task force to ensure the sanity we are enjoying on the road today. If they allow the road to be in the hands of non state actors that we have chased away to manage the roads, then the problem will return.”

On the clearance of refuse on the port acess road, Adeyanju urged NPA to view road maintenance as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and not solely a government responsibility.

“NPA should take it as part of its CRS to also clear the heap of refuse that has taken over the road. They shouldn’t see as a federal road and so it has to be the government or local government that will clear it because that has been the attitude of most of these government agencies. They should not allow the good job they have done to be taken over by non state actors,” he said.