Stakeholders Eulogize Tin Can Port Manager, Egede for Clearing Access Road Gridlock
Port stakeholders including customs agents and truck drivers have heaved sign of relief as they eulogies the Port Manager of Tin Can Island Port Complex, Sylvester Egede for clearing the gridlock that had poised a challenge to the port access road for more than twenty years.
Wilson Okunbanjo, a licensed customs agent operating at the Tin Can Island Port said “It is like magic. Nobody was able to clear the road. People suffered for many years on this road but imagine, within a few weeks of the new Port Manager’s resumption of office, the road was cleared. It has remained very free since then. It shows that with determination and will, no challenge is insurmountable.”
Okunbanjo said that while the gridlock lasted, the government and businesses lost trillions of naira in revenue.
A truck owner and operator, Hassan Aliyu, said that Egede was able to clear the port access road because he decided to tow a different path and refused to collect bribe from anybody.
Aliyu added that Egede decided it was time to do the right thing and that is the secret behind the successful clearing of the gridlock.
Aliyu also applauded the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko for providing the political backing to the Port Manager, Egede to do his work.
Recall that recently, the NPA with the Federal Ministry of Works and the Lagos State Government collaborated to bring sanity to the Tin Can Port access road, where for more than 20 years, the gridlock on the road brought countless hardship to truck owners, importers, exporters and other port users.
The Port Manager of Tin Can Island Port, Sylvester Egede emphasized that a combination of long-standing work experience, environmental awareness and institutional knowledge contributed to solving the traffic challenges that hindered movement of vehicles inward from Mile-2 to the port.
According to him, the successful clearing of the access road resulted from enlisting the support of all stakeholders and security agencies to dislodge persons suspected of involvement in extortion and other form of illegalities on the access road.
Egede lamented that the former state of the road had caused the death of some road users and adversely affected government drive for trade facilitation as well as ease of doing business.
