NPA begins self-help, as wastes litter Lagos ports

Going by the heaps of refuse littering the ports’ gates and environs, the two major seaports in Lagos State -Apapa and Tin Can Ports – have apparently become eyesore. During a visit to the ports, The Guardian discovered that the wastes as well as the stench around the ports are attracting flies and other elements that compromise the hygiene around the ports.
 
From Coconut area to Berger, Tin Can Port’s first and second gates and Wharf Road up till the port gate, what confronts the visitor is the sight of a refuse dump site right at the nation’s major gateway for goods and services.
 
Irked by the situation, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, has directed that the staff engage in self-help to clean up the port’s gate area.
 
The Port Manager, Lagos Ports Complex, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Olotu who confirmed this to The Guardian at the weekend, said the NPA sanitation team began the clean up exercise from midnight last Wednesday, adding that it would be sustained till the necessary authorities rise up to their responsibility.
   
“We can no longer tolerate a situation whereby our port environment would be littered with refuse. NPA is particular about hygiene and we have been in discussion with the state agency in charge. While we wait for them, the managing director has directed us to adopt a temporary self help measure which we are currently doing.” She said.
 
Olotu said the agency is also engaging the bike (okada) riders operating around the ports in a enlightenment about hygiene in order to create a sustainable healthy port environment.
 
Apart from suffering from dilapidated roads, Apapa, a town that harbours the two busiest seaports in Nigeria, has been suffering from poor environmental management for many years, the latest is the extension of the menace to the nation’s trade hub – the seaports. Traders have turned the ports’ area to dumping ground while illegal fuel dealers also indiscriminately display jerry cans of automated gas oil (diesel) along the dilapidated roads.