Apapa

The Country Manager of APM Terminals Nigeria, Mr Klaus Laursen on Sunday said the terminal was reducing plastic waste at the Lagos port by more than 400,000 bottles per year.

Laursen in a statement signed by him in Lagos noted that this years observation of the reduction of plastic waste was done through its annual Go Green Initiative.

“Go Green is an awareness building program initiated by the Global Ports Group (GPG), an association of port and terminal operators, collaborating on key Environmental, Health, Safety and Security topics.

“This year, APM Terminal is focused on reducing its plastic footprint by replacing single-use plastic bottled water with re-fill bottles and water dispensers, thereby eliminating an annual waste of 408,800 single-use plastic bottles.

Laursen noted that at APM Terminals, they take responsibility towards the environment very serious; towards the community today, towards the future and their kids.

He said that every year, they give themselves as employees an opportunity to contribute with their Go Green Campaign, adding that this was their chance to give back.

“We will do this this year and will continue to do it in the future. And we can use our Lean waste methodology, our approach to always improve and always reduce the impact on the environment.

“ We owe that to ourselves, we owe that to our kids, and we owe that to the future,” he said

Also, the Procurement Manager of APM Terminals Apapa, Ms Chinyere Adenaike, said the now they had ensured that employees drink clean water without further harm to the environment.

“Everyday at APM Terminals Apapa, our employees consume 1,120 units of plastic bottled water. That is a massive churn out from a single community of workers.

“ We may not be able to change how the outer world creates environmental pollution caused by plastic waste but we definitely resolve not to contribute to that any longer,” she said.

Adenaike further stated that in order to reduce the company’s plastic footprint, water dispensers had been placed all over the terminal to drastically cut down waste generated from single-use plastic water bottles.

She said the company also distributed 1,300 branded refill bottles to employees and contractors working at the terminal, enabling them refill their bottles from the dispensers.

“The future of our unborn children depend on this and so that compels us not only to make it work but sustains it,” Adenaike said.

Mr Gbenga Odeyemi of the Operation Labour Management unit said the replacement of bottled water with dispenser water had helped in reducing plastic waste at the terminal.

“The problem of picking empty bottled water around the terminal, constituting nuisance and all that had been eliminated or perhaps limited because we cannot eliminate waste like that but we can limit it,” he said.

Mobile Equipment Supervisor, Mr Okon Anthony, also commended the initiative, which he said would contribute to reducing plastic wastes at the port.

APM Terminals Apapa has remained committed to the Go Green campaign since it was launched six years ago.

In 2018, the staff of APM Terminals Apapa cleaned up and removed plastic wastes from Ogogoro Island – a riverine community in Lagos.

In 2019, in partnership with the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), it carried out a cleanup exercise to clear the heaps of refuse on Apapa-Wharf Road. It also donated waste bins.

Mr Mike Egbayelo, former Deputy Secretary, Apapa Security Trust Fund, has urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to review the electronic call-up system for trucks to tackle the Apapa gridlock.

Egbayelo said in Lagos that the electronic call-up structure was not working and needed to be reviewed.

He also stressed the need to eradicate the network of corruption due to traffic management mechanism.

“The residents experience a lot of stress coming into Apapa and sometimes cannot meet up with their appointments.

“Some of us have relocated our offices out of Apapa and we are not really happy about that,” he said.

He noted that due to the gridlock on Apapa road, truck drivers now resort to using any available space for convenience.

Egbayelo said the development was causing serious negative environmental and health hazards to the residents.

He added that the gridlock had affected business activities negatively and made life unbearable for the residents.

“The impact on the economy is so huge that we have so many losses, so many companies have closed down, and the impact on the environment is so bad.

“Due to the gridlock, we have drivers using all the available space as convenience and this poses serious threat to the residents,” he said.

Also, Mr Peter Obayi, a bus driver, said the many hours spent in going to Apapa wears him off.

Obayi noted that a trip from Cele to Apapa that used to take at least one and half hours now takes up to three hours and even more.

He urged government to hasten the road construction to help alleviate the sufferings of the people plying the route.

A banker, Mrs Opeyemi Ogundeji, said that the gridlock was a nightmare for her as that was what she usually faced every day going to work.

“Coming from Apapa to Maza-maza to my place of work on a motorcycle every day is very dangerous and difficult, especially when trucks are lined up with no space for even the motorcycle to pass.

“Atimes, I get down from the motorcycle and trek to another spot just to pass the gridlock and continue with my journey to the office,” Ogundeji said.

The electronic truck call-up system, also known as Eto, was introduced by the NPA on Feb. 27 for the management of truck movement.

All trucks doing business at the ports will be required to park at the approved truck parks until they are called up into the port through the Eto app.

The Eto app will be responsible for the scheduling, entry and exit of all trucks into the ports.

Unfortunately, since the introduction of the Eto app, it has been saddled with many challenges as the gridlock still persists.