Apapa: Killing the goose that lays the golden egg

Here lies Apapa, a once bubbling town. Today, all it has are tales and indeed they are pathetic ones. Once, it held out opportunities for the many dreams that came to her. But today, she lays desolate, eating up the very ones that once held onto her breasts.

The town has become a cemetery not just for the many businesses that once graced her garden, but for even the ones that seek to sprout in her. Once upon a time, she enjoyed the attention from her many lovers. It then was a city that never sleeps. The town killed sleep for fun. And large indeed was her company.
Apapa’s ailment is one for which many people have tried hard to diagnose, but to no avail. But one crime that the town has committed and for which the people have refused to forgive her is playing host to one of the largest ports in the whole of Africa. Even though close to half of the nation’s yearly budget is made from this small town, nobody seems to notice that the life is gradually ebbing out of Apapa! No, it is already gasping for breath!
Last week, one of Nigeria’s finest professors and a re­nowned poet slept on the long bridge that leads to his home in the Apapa GRA. He could not get home because of the un­ending traffic that has become Apapa’s second name. He is 90 years old.
“Imagine a 90-year old man stuck in traffic till 2:00am. It happens everyday. The other day, somebody called me by 5:00am and said he slept in traffic the previous day. He said he was robbed of his laptop and everything. It is happening over and over again here. The traffic situation in Apapa affects every resident here directly,” says Paul Odey, the General Manager, Apapa GRA Residents Association (AGRA).
“A lot of residents are moving out of the estate. There is this resident I called the other day, he told me he had moved out of the estate. When I asked why, he said his daughter was robbed twice on that bridge and he was not going to wait until she was killed. So he had moved out. He said if I can get someone that will buy the house, that he was willing to sell it. He is one out of so many.”
Selling this resident’s house is one of the most difficult things you can do in Apapa right now because according to Odey: “there are over 60 vacant houses, and nobody is willing to rent or buy them. What is the essence of buying a house that you cannot access? You are going out and you can’t come back.”
Even school children are not spared the calamity that has befallen this once bub­bling town. “We have residents whose children school on the Island. Imagine school children staying in traffic till 11:00pm! When they close, they cannot get home. They are stuck in traf­fic for hours. Then the following day, they are going to repeat the same cycle because the bridge is blocked.
“Residents can’t go for appointments because of the fear of getting caught up in this traffic. We have businesses here that clients are supposed to come into Apapa, but when you tell them that you are in Apapa, they will not come. Even the governor of Lagos State cannot come. He came only on Sundays to do the inspec­tion. During working days, he cannot come. They will come when nothing is happening. How will they be able to know what we are talking about? The traffic cannot give way for the governor if he comes. There is no place to give way to because everywhere is blocked.”
During the visits to Apapa by our reporter, what was seen was a ghost town. At whatever time of the day you made to get into Apapa, you will find the long bridge connecting it from Ijora almost always clogged. Whichever turn you take, you will find desperate road users struggling against traffic. And that they do every day and years now unending.
Sunday Sun also gathered that one of the major reasons for the hapless state of the town is the reckless siting of tank farms within the town. Current­ly, there are so many tank farms in Apapa that the prayer on the lips of every resident is that there should be no incidence of fire.
“God is still keeping us in Apapa,” continues Odey. “We pray not to have a fire incident especially the one that has to do with PMS. It is just a small community with too many tank farms. And it is like Apapa is surrounded by tank farms. We don’t pray for any fire outbreak, if not, Apapa will be incinerated in a matter of minutes.”
Talking about the tank farms and how they got into Apapa, Odey said they were sited with­out recourse to the residents. “They have got their environ­mental impact assessment. How did they get it? They are supposed to seek the opinion of the community. They will come and ask us: what do you think about this project? Is it going to be harmful to you? Will it ben­efit you? They did not do that. Somebody must have signed that assessment form for them because without it they are not supposed to start anything within Apapa here.
During the visits by our reporter, it was discovered that most businesses on the once prosperous Creek Road were dead and buried while the ones that have managed to survive were in critical condition. The reason, of course, is not far-fetched.
“If you walk down Creek Road and see any business there; it is one of two things that is keeping them there. It is either they are into oil and gas or shipping. If they are not into either of these, then they don’t have money to relocate. Even the banks have all closed down. It is affecting business very badly.
True to Odey’s words, all the banks on this road have either moved or died a natural death. Our reporter counted not less than five nonfunctional banks on this road. Two banks had just recently moved, with the “we have moved” notice still hanging on the gates of their premises.
This road has one part blocked off by trailers and tankers. There was virtually no movement at all on that portion of the road which led into Wharf Road. Sunday Sun noticed that even the Maritime Complex which seemed to be the busiest premises on Creek Road, close to half of its occu­pants have moved. You can see the empty apartments through their glass doors often bound with chains and padlocks.
On the adjoining street, Commercial Road, the story is practically the same. Sun­day Sun counted about three banks whose services had been moved. In fact, in front of what used to be a new generation bank was a makeshift canteen on that same road.
Some of the failed business­es in Apapa included, but not limited to Diz Pharm, Dizzen­gorf, John Holt, Chigo, UTC, Cowbell, GM Motors, Mr. Biggs, GAC Shipping, Toropharm and Logistics Ltd, Japaul oil and gas, Cupid Inn, many bank branches and guest houses. Everywhere you go in Apapa, you cannot miss the fact that most build­ings are wearing the tiring look; with paints peeling off their walls and roofs falling off.
Odey wondered if a vendetta was being visited on Apapa be­cause he could not understand why the federal government has turned a deaf ear to the outcry from the once bubbling town; and from which it gets a large chunk of its national cake.
He concluded with pain of heart: “The government doesn’t really care. They are too far away. It is a pitiable situation. Apapa used to be a city that doesn’t sleep. But now, Apapa is dead.”
Siman Joshua has been an es­tate agent working within Apa­pa for about 16 years. He knows the area as he does the back of his palm. Property within the town used to be highly prized, he recalled. He has however watched helplessly as the prices for the property from which he made his living crumbled before his very face.
“The value has been dropping from the Nigerians who reside in Apapa GRA, the majority of the residents here are Indians. And you know they are mostly traders. If they go to work and they cannot get to their homes, what is the essence of the house?” Joshua wondered. since 2009 and has not recovered. Apart
To what extent has the value dropped? He answers: “A standard three-bedroom luxury flat here should be in the range of N4.5m to N5m. But now, it is N3m or even less. Apapa GRA should compare with Ikeja GRA or Ikoyi, but in terms of value, they are not comparable. In these other estates, that same flat will go for between N5m and N7m.
“There is a flat on Azare Crescent here in the GRA Apapa. If that property was in Ikoyi, it will go for nothing less than N12m. but the owner is still strug­gling with N4m and he has not even got it. People are running away from Apapa because they don’t want to be caught up in traffic, not to talk of the risk of being robbed and mobbed on the road.
“There are properties on Marine Road, Fokados, and Pathos that have been vacant for at least three years. In fact, there is a property on Hall Lane that has been vacant for seven years, but just got taken. The value right now is N2.5m, but it was N1.8m that the own­er collected because he cannot suffer anymore,” Joshua explained.
While he is putting finishing touches to his plans to diversify, Joshua espe­cially understands the pain of property owners. “So, you can imagine the pain of property owners whose only source of livelihood is the proceed from the rent they collect. And their houses have not been let for years. It is as good as saying they should just die.”
Then he added rather impulsively, “You are talking about the property owners, how about the real estate prac­titioners?”
On his part, the local government chairman of Apapa Local Government Council, Ayodeji Joseph expressed regret over Apapa’s condition; saying that it was certainly not the Apapa of his dream. Despite all the efforts to alleviate the pain, the council was handicapped in a number of ways. “We set up a committee consisting of Apapa local council, the business community and the residents association. What we tried to do was to get fund and mobilize people –police, LASTMA, Navy, etc. Well, traffic control is very key there though the roads are also bad. The fed­eral roads in Apapa have been neglected despite the huge amount that federal government makes from Apapa.
“Before now, we have traffic officers that we employed and were paying. But they said we need to get approval from the state government before we can do that. Some of them were actually arrested. So, for now, we are off the road. The state said it was not legal; that before we can do that we need to go for training in LASTMA. But the Apapa traffic committee would have really solved some of these problems, but finance is also part of the problem,” Joseph explained.
Asked how he feels about the state of the town, the council boss said thus: “Apapa is in a very sorry state and it is not the Apapa of my dream. The three tiers of government have heavy presence there. You have the federal government controlling like 60 to 70 per cent of activities there. So, there is a limit to which you can operate in such environment. You want to do something and they will say that it is not the re­sponsibility of the local government. We cannot even apprehend traffic offend­ers; they said we don’t have the right. So, the power of a local government is very small. I don’t have a regret being council chairman, but I feel bad because I am not able to do what I feel is the proper thing.”