How 10 Agencies were Removed from the Ports

Two weeks after the federal government released a list of agencies that have been barred from operating at the nation’s ports, facts have emerged about what informed the sack of the agencies from the ports.

According to a report obtained by THISDAY, the sacking of 10 agencies from the ports was based on the recommendations of a working group set up by the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in a bid to ensure a seamless clearance of goods at the ports.

A few weeks after assuming office, Okonjo-Iweala had constituted the study group to proffer solutions to the persistent gridlock at the ports. Her ultimate ambition is to ensure that 48-hour cargo clearance is achieved in Nigeria.

The body, dubbed the Presidential Working Group on Ports Decongestion, recommended the streamlining of the number of agencies at the ports to 5, leaving the Nigeria Customs Service, Port Health, Immigration, Nigerian Police and NPA. It was strongly recommended that the NCS should be the leading agency in the clearing process.

"Other agencies should relocate outside the port premises and be invited only on need basis," said the report.

The panel members drawn from her office, the Nigerian Customs Service, Ministry of Transport and the private sector, and which had names like Omar Suleiman (MD Nigerian Ports Authority) chairman; Bolanle Onagoruwa (DG, Bureau of Public Enterprise); Emeka Ezeh (DG, Bureau of Public Procurement); Julius Nwagwu (Customs); A.O. Ibeh (Director, BPE), recommended that the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control; National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria be barred from operating in the ports.

Other agencies include the Directorate of Naval Intelligence; Nigerian Plant Quarantine Services; Economic and Financial Crimes Commission; Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission; The State Security Service; National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the report, said to have been submitted to the finance minister early in October, the working group noted that the operations of Nigerian ports over the years had been associated with inefficiency and corruption. A copy of the summary of the report made available to THISDAY blamed the problems at the ports largely on poor infrastructure, poor work ethics by all the agencies at the port as well as multiplicity of agencies at the port.

It noted: "These agencies through their daily activities have made business at the port very unfriendly as it causes delay in clearing of goods which ultimately adds to the cost of importation. It is against this background that this working group has painstakingly considered the inherent challenges and came up with short term, medium term and long recommendations to ensure 48 hours cargo clearance."

A source told THISDAY that: "Okonjo-Iweala obtained presidential approval to implement the recommendations within a few days after receiving the report. This resulted in her trip to the Apapa Ports in Lagos on October 10, where she unveiled the new deal for Nigerian ports to industry stakeholders.”

Also, the report expressed concern about lack of operational guidelines for shipping lines and terminal operators in Nigeria and recommended thus: "The Shipping line and terminal operators should have direct traders input.

The Shipping lines should carry 70 percent of empty containers when they are leaving in order to solve the problem of excessive empty containers at the ports."

Six agencies were retained at the ports by the government instead of the five recommended by the study group. They are the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, The Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Police Force and Ports Health. The State Security Service was also allowed to remain at the ports.

But, investigations have shown that the desired result of the policy has yet to be achieved as the problem of congestion, especially at the Apapa port, in Lagos, still persists, with a stretch of container-bearing lorries regularly spilling onto the streets.

The minister’s decision been hailed and condemned almost in equal measure with a few agencies apparently staging a last ditch effort to be retained at the ports.

By Ojo Maduekwe              Courtesy Of: ThisDayLive