The Chairperson, Apapa Local Government Area, Mrs. Idowu Senbanjo, has lamented the continuous exit of investors and multinational companies from the ports.
Senbanjo who disclosed this at a conference for port users held in Lagos also berated the exemption of the local council in partaking from the revenue generated from the port and related economic activities.
She said the massive revenue generated at the port is not coming to the Local Government being the host community of the port.
The Chairperson also narrated how her table is flooded with letters for financial help daily, coupled with harassment from social miscreants seeking jobs at the port.
She lamented how investments in the port are rotting away because of a lack of patronage, which she credited to unbearable traffic congestion.
“Since I resumed this office, I have come to understand that there is so much poverty. People are struggling and have no jobs.
“In Apapa, revenue and unemployment are major issues. Millions and billions of money pass through my Local Government and none of this money comes to us. Even in the ETO system, the local government is not receiving anything generated from it.
“I was in Ivory Coast for a summit and heard that Apapa is the richest local government in Africa, but I am not getting that kind of revenue and my Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is dropping every second.
“The miscreants you are seeing on the road are collecting money more than what any employer will pay them. So most of them are not ready to work. They even frustrate with whatever it is that the government wants to do. But if we have strict policies, people will fall in line eventually,” she stated.
According to her, Apapa local council needs help as no stakeholder or agency in the maritime sector wants to reckon with it.
She said because people who have invested heavily in the port are leaving, Apapa is currently down to 20 per cent of what it used to be.
“There are so many empty houses in Apapa. If you go to creek road, half of the houses there are empty and that is an industrial area in Apapa. You will discover that all the companies and residents have left.
“If the government fails to get up and do something about the reform they are talking about in the maritime industry, the host communities cannot benefit from anything,” Senbanjo noted.
