The Federal Government on Thursday , through the Ministry of Transportation (FMOT) charged government and private stakeholders in the maritime sector to resolve the lingering issues of corruption along the Lagos seaports corridors.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajani who disclosed this at a programme put together by the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) of the New Port Manual Process (NPPM) maintained that stakeholders and relevant government agencies within the port corridors have critical roles to playing in the eradication of the numerous challenges faced by operators.
The event which has the theme “Operation Free The Ports and Terminals had in attendance ; truck owners, Labour union workers , government agencies, freight forwarders.
According to her, the success of the newly inaugurated team is hinged on the collaboration and commitment of all stakeholders.
The Permanent Secretary opined that the PSTT has already been making progress with regards free access around the port access roads.
Her words: “It takes everyone to be onboard to achieve this and we need to have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). This is where NPPM comes in because it puts together the SOPs of the various agencies in one document.”
She noted that “Being here to flag-off this project is an honour and I want to start by commending the Port Standing Task Team on what has been achieved in the last one year. It took me 40minutes from the airport to get to this location.
“My flight was supposed to take-off from Abuja at 8am, but at 1am we got a message that it has been rescheduled for 1pm. We had to get another flight that landed in Lagos by 10am. I left the airport by 10:05am and I was at Shippers’ Council building in Apapa by 10:40am.”
Continuing, Ajani noted “I can tell that we are moving forward because I come to Lagos often and recently I was heading to Apapa and asked to be taken by road to Marina. I asked the driver not to do one-way driving because I didn’t want to be embarrassed by Road Safety officials.
“They assured that they wouldn’t break the rules and it took us 20minutes from Victoria Island to NIMASA’s headquarters in Apapa. This was also courtesy of the PSTT and I recounting this so that we know that we’re achieving something,” she said.
Noting that the problem of port access connectivity is as long as 14years, she posited that stakeholders have to address it holistically with the aim to achieve ease of doing business at Nigerian seaports and the corridors.
In his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC,reiterated the need for stakeholders to work together in resolving the numerous challenges along the port corridors.
Jime maintained that the Council and other relevant maritime agencies will work round the clock toward ensuring the progress of PSTT.
The Executive Secretary further expressed satisfaction on the activities of the PSTT in the last one year urging operators to work closely with team.
He also thanked the team for constituting an enlarged task team for removing illegal checkpoints and shanties along the port corridors.
Jime stressed that“I am particularly excited because of the level of buy-in obtained from the stakeholders coming from both the public and private sectors. It just goes to demonstrate how all of us are eager to rid the ports corridors of the anomalies we are witnessing daily,” he said.
On his part, head of the PSTT, Mr. Moses Fadipe noted that there is quick discharge of cargoes at terminals and speedy turnaround of vessels at the anchorage but the problems on the port access roads mars the other successes.
Fadipe who is a deputy director, Special Duties, NSC also expressed delight at the zeal which the PSTT members from respective agencies addressed numerous issues and encouraged them to continue such approach with the new task of freeing the ports and terminals corridors.
By Roland Ekama
