Following Federal Government’s decision to encourage ease of doing business in the country, some agencies, hitherto operating at the nation’s ports alongside Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), have been sacked.
The affected agencies are Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Port Quarantine Services (PQS), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
They have been ordered to vacate the ports with immediate effect. The agencies left to operate within the ports are the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), NCS, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and Port Health.
Disclosing the development in Lagos yesterday during a stakeholders’ meeting jointly organised by NPA and NCS, the Managing Director of NPA, Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman, said that in 2011 an approval was granted to streamline activities of government agencies at the ports. For ease of referencing, she explained that the seven approved agencies out of 11 had been permitted to operate in the ports, adding that other agencies not approved must cease to operate within the port.
Usman stressed that the affected agencies would be invited whenever their services are required. Also speaking, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), said that the meeting was key to the operations of the service.
He stressed that the order, when implemented, would reduce clearing time and cost of doing business at the ports. Ali said: “I want to say we have embarked on a change process that we have never had before and there is the tendency to say it is one of those things.
It is going to stay because we believe all of us should be committed to this. The ease of doing business is to reduce time and processes and cost. “I will enjoin all of you to join hands with all of us and to ensure that we implement this to the letter.
This will help in reducing time, cost of doing business at the port.” While inaugurating the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said: “All agencies currently physically present in Nigerian ports shall, within 60 days, harmonise their operations into one single interface station domiciled in one location in the port and implemented by a single joint taskforce at all times, without prejudice to necessary backend procedures.
“There shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria. Onduty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and official cards while off duty staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head.
The NPA security shall enforce this order.” According to the order, any official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from port users shall be subjected to immediate removal from port and followed with disciplinary as well as criminal proceedings in line with extant laws and regulations. This shall be applied with immediate effect.
