Make Apapa a port again: The origins of congestion and how to fix it

Apapa is synonymous with distress.

For residents of the area, the discomfort is felt in the inability to go to work and come back home on time and safely. The hundreds of trailer trucks parked at the side of Apapa’s terrible roads extend 30-minute journeys to as long as six hours.

Business owners alike, see it as a thorn in their flesh and pockets. The roads have cost businesses time and money. 

Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of Dangote Group, lamented about his losses, “we lost over ₦25 billion because of congestion. We can produce, but we are not able to come out of the port because of congestion, resulting from the gridlock in the Apapa axis.”

Nationally, it is estimated that Nigeria loses around ₦600 billion in customs revenue and about ₦2.5 trillion in corporate revenues on an annual basis thanks to Apapa’s roads. 

Several efforts have been made by