Fashola blames FG for Apapa traffic gridlock

LAGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has said that the failure of the Federal Government at complementing the efforts of the state, towards finding a lasting solution to the indiscriminate parking of trailers and tankers on Apapa/Oshodi Expressway was responsible for the perennial gridlock on the road.











He also noted that so long as Nigeria continues to import fuel, tankers would be seen on the road, even as he added that the nation could still have fuel without tankers parking on the road.
Fashola said this yesterday in Lagos at the formal opening of  ‘The Brook’, BusinessDay’s Corporate office.
Those at the event include; Mr. Sam Amuka, Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, Publisher of BusinessDay Newspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, General Manager/Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Eniola Bello, Managing Director of ThisDay Newspapers, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon Editor of Vanguard Newspapers and  Mr. Emeka Izeze Managing Director of the Guardian Newspapers .
Others are: Mr. Imo Itsueli, Chairman and Managing Director, Dubril Oil, Nigeria, Mr Stanley Egbochukwu, Publisher of Manufacturing Today, Mr. Foluso Phillips, Director General, Nigerian Economic Summit Group,NESG, Mr. Funmi Onajide, General Manager Corporate Affairs, MTN among others
According to Fashola, ‘’What Brook represents is strong confidence. And I can assure that this confidence will not be misplaced. It confirms to me about the love of the publisher for entrepreneurship. With this, youths can find employment. This would not have been possible without the Apapa model city plan which the Lagos State government initiated. Despite trillions of naira accruing to the Federal Government from Apapa, the government has neglected the area. I wonder the kind of business managers that make money from an area, yet they have refused to pay attention to where the money comes from.
‘’As a sub-regional government with little access to the port, there is little we can do. We started the renewal plan, but no sooner had we started, the Federal Government promised to partner with us so that trailers and tankers will no longer park on the roads. We have not seen anything from them apart from the last time they worked with us. Trailers still park in front of people’s houses. It seems to me that as a nation, we are bearing burdens for the wrong choice that we have made; moving petrol by road .
‘’The situation was compounded by the fact that we need fuel. If we stop tankers from parking, that means there will be no fuel. So we are in a fix, but it is possible for us to have fuel without tankers parking on the road.’’
‘’The private sector is succeeding because we have the right people. Therefore, rather than lamenting those doing well in the private sector should join the public sector to make the needed difference.’’.
Why we relocated
—Aigbogun
Earlier, Aigbogun said the decision to relocate was informed by the need to diversify and respond to the demand of a growing business.
He said: ‘’our decision to diversify the business and relocate to this site, a place we can call home, was prompted mainly by the need to respond to the demand of a growing business. Lagos State, the hub of business and financial activities in Nigeria, is naturally our biggest market and we are mindful of our market’s expectation. From inception, we deliberately chose to tread the path of excellent journalism defined by honesty, accuracy and integrity. Aside from being fair and balanced in our reporting of business and finance in Nigeria, we are not shirking our broader mandate of being also an agenda setter for society and canvassing vigorously, the views we believe in.
‘’Our editors have projected that if Lagos was to get power supply, right, and there is no good reason why it should not, this place can in less than a decade of more momentum and traction, assume the face of a nation state without the legal affirmation. For with power on the back of continued good governance, people in Lagos will have very little need of the central government.’’
He further said, ‘’ I am able to report that we are recording steady success in preparing the newspaper and the business itself for some of the head winds and the inevitable transformation that is occurring in the manner news is sourced and distributed in maturing markets abroad.