The Nigerian International Maritime Ports and Terminals (NIMPORT), a port and terminal promotion body, has appealed to the Federal Government to ensure seamless connectivity for cargo and human traffic.
NIMPORT Chairman Mr Fortune Idu made the appealin Lagos on Saturday.
“The focus should be full connectivity, from the port to the hinterland.
“There should be full and seamless connectivity for cargo and human traffic as it will actually help the country achieve its potential.
“The Minister of Transportation should not relent in moving the sector forward.
“There should not be politicking about connectivity, about decongesting Lagos as the focus is actually on the western axis.
“We can achieve the decongestion of Lagos and pull people out of Lagos into neighboring states such as Ogun and Oyo states by making the railways work.
“The rail project should be completed as quickly as possible.”
Idu pointed out that the sector was hoping and aspiring to see a Lagos without container traffic, saying that having containers dropping off bridges in a busy and populated city like Lagos was appalling and unthinkable.
He urged the Lagos State government and the Federal Government to work closely and ensure that Lagos is rid of container traffic.
“I expect that bulk breaking of container content should be done outside the main commercial city of Lagos and that can only be achieved with real connectivity and where you have inland terminals and rail stations around Lagos.
“With rail stations in Ogun State, Lokoja or even between Ibadan and Lagos, containers could be immediately moved out of Lagos the moment they are offloaded from the ship to places where they could be bulk broken.
“Then you have the distribution network by road.
“Having a full container load traveling on the bridges is not good at all,” he said.
He spoke of the need to ensure that rivers in the country were navigable.
According to him, once the rivers are navigable, containers could be moved from Lagos across the rivers in batches.
