Bala-Usman: Fixing the Apapa Gridlock With "Eto" - OpEd by Dr Reuben Abati

Tuesday, March 30, 2021 / 09:25 AM / by OpEd by Dr. Reuben Abati / Header Image Credit: GuardianNG

Theroads leading to the two Nigerian ports in Lagos have been for many years anabiding source of heartache and nightmare. Businesses have had to relocate fromthat part of the city for that very reason. Residents tell horrible stories oftraffic gridlock, mental health stress and the destruction of a neighbourhoodthat used to be a highly regarded commercial hub, while also serving as home orinvestment space for some notable and principal members of the Lagos elite: theAwolowos, the Fanikayodes, the Fagbayis, the Odutolas, the Clarks, the Ibrus,the Abraham Adesanyas, the Folawiyos, the Adedoyins...

Inthe 1950-80s, Apapa was a highbrow estate in Lagos. It would later become morepopular for the ports of Lagos: the Tin Can and the Apapa Port, in addition toshipping and construction companies and other businesses. There also used to bea functional rail line linking Apapa to the rest of the city. But Apapa whichis a local government area unto itself, soon collapsed in literal terms. Itsstory is the story of Nigeria - a country where every good thing eventuallygoes to waste. How did Apapa become a problem to all and sundry? The roadsleading to the area collapsed. Potholes everywhere. Many houses could not beaccessed or if at all with so much distress. For years, it was impossible toget to the ports through the Mile 2 end: a whole stretch of the in-bound lanewas unmotorable. Access to the ports through the Carter Bridge or WesternAvenue was also frustrating. Apart from the bad state of the roads, the mainproblem was the long queue of trailers and trucks going to the ports to pick upcontainers or those trucks returning with heavy containers, clogging the roads,making life difficult for everyone. The traffic congestion caused by thesetrucks conveyed an image, in every elemental detail, of the failure ofgovernance in Nigeria.

However,since the return to civilian rule in 1999, one administration after another hasmade efforts to solve the problem. There has been so much talk aboutports reform to ensure efficiency and better performance, and to save Nigeria'sface and revenue. Like this: ports in Cotonou, Togo and Tema, Ghana have beenfar more efficient. Goods meant for the Lagos ports are routinely diverted tobetter maintained ports in the sub-region. The Jonathan administration even setup a Task Force to streamline the multiplicity of agencies at the ports, streamline bureaucracy, and ensure a 24-hour turn-around time. Trailer parks werecreated to get the trucks off the roads. There were talks about fixingthe roads, and getting the rail line to Apapa working again. One Governor ofLagos after the other talked about the same ports. The Buhari administrationhas sustained the efforts to find a solution. Vice President Osinbajo must havevisited Apapa more than once to demonstrate the present Government'sdetermination. At some point, the Buhari administration shut down the portswith Nigeria's neighbours. Inefficiency at the ports affects the country'srevenue very badly. Whereas the roads can be fixed: the main challenge hasbeen, as we see it, what to do with the many trucks to-ing and fro-ing theports, blocking the roads permanently. On a daily basis, hundreds of trucks goin and out of Apapa in a disorderly manner. Whereas there are alternative portsin the country: Warri, Onne, Calabar, and Port Harcourt, importers andexporters rely heavily on the Lagos ports. The roads to and from the Lagosports are also congested because there are no functional, alternative,multi-modal means of transportation.

Themost strategic intervention so far would seem to be the decision by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) now under the leadership of Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman tomodernize the call-up system for the trucks going to the ports. In an interviewwith her on Arise News, The Morning Show, about a month ago, she was emphaticabout what she called an electronic call-up system called "Eto". That is aYoruba word. It means "to organise something in an orderly fashion in order toget results." The late Chief MKO Abiola, in one of his famous witty reparteesmade that word even more popular when he was reported to have said on oneoccasion, that if you see any photographer who is very agile and diligent,taking pictures from every angle and not missing a shot at a public event, itis all about "eto". The sharpness of the wit and the infectious humour is lostin translation. "Eto ni gbogbo e". I don't know whether this is the inspirationfor the NPA's "eto" but the whole idea is to get people to do their work efficientlyand deliver good results for the benefit of all parties concerned. What the NPAhas done is to introduce an electronic app, and create a portal. Instead ofqueuing up on the roads leading to the ports, importers and exporters aresupposed to log in online to indicate the movement of their trucks towards theports. The Ports Authority would then give the necessary approval to ensurethat the inflow and outflow of trucks is orderly. Under that framework, theNigeria Ports Authority has provided 17 designated and approved truck parkswhere trucks are required to wait before they are given what is called truckpass. It is a pre-gate system. You are called up. You wait at the providedpre-gate location. When it is your turn you approach the ports, or exit. Cargoowners are also required to stop returning empty containers to the ports.

Thissounds very simple. Ordinarily it should address the crisis of having trucksparking on the main roads leading to the ports for weeks, even when thecontainers that they are assigned to collect are still on the high seas. Foryears, truck drivers and their trucks have thus constituted complete nuisancearound Apapa. The studio of Arise News TV used to be in the ThisDayHeadquarters on Creek Road in Apapa. I didn't find it funny going to that partof the city. The Chairman of Arise News on many occasions encouraged the use ofhis boat from Victoria Island to Apapa and back. Until one day, there was asmall incident close to the anchor point and we needed to rely on the waves totake us ashore. Ask Professor Bola Akinterinwa. I saw a new side of him thatday. I don't want to embarrass the senior citizen by reproducing the torrentsof stream-of-consciousness elegy that came out of his mouth, as our fatedepended on the sea. It was the last time he and I took the boat to the studio.We had to endure the nightmare of the roads. I consider HadizaBala-Usman's Eto initiative commendable. It would be of great benefit to thePorts, and the ordinary citizen going about his or her normal businesses aroundApapa. It would further reduce the menace of those trucks ferrying unlatchedcontainers which tend to fall off now and then, causing avoidable loss of livesand property. Hadiza Bala-Usman's initiative is about the ease of movement andthe ease of doing business.

Butwhat have we seen? Since the introduction of the e-call up system, those whohave always benefitted from the old regime have been reportedly doing whateverthey can to circumvent it. Many Nigerians hate innovation. People guard whatthey are used to because they think change will disrupt their lives. In thecase of the attempt to de-congest the road to the ports, it is disturbing tosee that even traffic congestion is an organised source of livelihood for someNigerians, in fact an organised crime! This includes the middle men whoclaim to be assisting the truck owners and their drivers; the security agentswho collect bribe from motorists looking for free passage, the area boys whocollect ground rent from everyone, and the owners of the trucks, very powerfulforces, who imagine themselves to be above the law. About a week ago, theManaging Director of the NPA, had to suspend the outflow of all export cargoes.Despite the e-call up system, the Ports Authorities were having to deal with abacklog of 600 export cargo trucks, all approaching the ports. The trucks couldnot be granted a pass or called into the pre -gate because many of them had noproper export documentation, or as is the case with many, the necessary certificateswere incomplete! To worsen matters, despite the "Eto" system, cargo evacuationis difficult because the Nigeria Customs Service in 2021 has no scanners, andso in the absence of scanners, customs officials at the ports are still busydoing manual inspection, opening one container after another physically insearch of spare parts and stock-fish!

Inan interview with the Daily Champion, Monday, March 29, 2021, at page 24, theNPA MD says owners of cargo exports have been given two weeks within which theyshould align with the new framework, and she is optimistic that within 3 monthsall stakeholders will be able to understand how the "Eto" platform works. Ilike her optimism about how whatever challenges she may be facing aresurmountable. But she needs to give herself more than 3 months to sort thingsout. It is not that straightforward. The big problem are the rent-seekers shesays are pushing back. Those rent-seekers don't give up easily. They won't.There must be sanctions. If any truck is sent to the ports without properdocumentation, such trucks should be seized. Penalties should be imposed.Transporters and owners of cargo who defy simple processes and frustrate othersmust be told that they cannot place themselves above the law. What is clear isthis: for Eto as it is called to work at the ports, the NPA will need theco-operation of other government agencies: the Customs Service that needs tostop behaving like a 19^th Century unit of government, the securityagencies that must wield the big stick against rent-seekers and the ExportPromotion Council that needs to act right. In other parts of the world, heavycargo is transported through the rails. The ugly sight of trucks on Nigerianroads bearing unlatched containers is a sign of underdevelopment, if notmadness in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. More importantly,other ports around the country in Onne, Calabar, and Warri should be made moreactive to further reduce the pressure on Lagos. Hadiza Bala-Usman clearly needsall the support she can get. But a lot will also depend on the courage shebrings to the table. Rent-seekers, area boys, cargo owners, thieving customsofficials will test her resolve. She must be firm and resolute, and it is onlyby doing so, that she can help end the failure of Apapa.