The use of task forces and special committees is becoming a norm in the Nigerian maritime sector, so much so that at the last count, virtually all the subsectors have been touched by activities of one task force, (ad-hoc creations in the name of presidential, ministerial or special committee) or the other.
There was a time when the port system has a task force on customs reform, a national task force on importation of small arms as well as a ministerial committee on review of port concession.
The use of task forces and special committees is becoming a norm in the Nigerian maritime sector, so much so that at the last count, virtually all the subsectors have been touched by activities of one task force, (ad-hoc creations in the name of presidential, ministerial or special committee) or the other.
There was a time when the port system has a task force on customs reform, a national task force on importation of small arms as well as a ministerial committee on review of port concession.
Similarly, the ports have in the past witnessed the activities of a ministerial task force on port charges, review of Cabotage Act and a host of other ad-hoc arrangements; all in a bid to make things work better in the nation’s ports.
When the (now- disbanded) ministerial task on port charges came on board in 2010, the idea was to find a permanent end to the agitation of shippers through their freight forwarders about high cost of doing businesses in Nigerian ports. The ‘eminent persons group’ which was led by Mrs Chinwe Ezenwa; then a director in the ministry of transport went round Lagos ports, spent weeks meeting with stakeholders and visiting the various terminals.
It is instructive that the task force which largely drew its membership from among freight forwarders proffered lasting solutions to so many of the problems in the ports; especially as they concern cargo handling and delivery. At the end of about four weeks, the task force turned in its findings and recommendations; which sadly, still remain as recommendations till today.
Similarly, there was a ministerial task force on the reform of the Nigeria Customs Service, which was put in place to try and proffer solutions to the mirage of problems that are bedeviling the Service.
The then- minister of finance, Shamsudeen Usman had mandated the task force to reorganize and transform the Nigeria Customs Service into a modern institution that is capable of enhancing revenue generation, facilitating trade and curbing smuggling and also check importation of illegal arms within two years.
The highly – respected, but largely-suspected task force was disbanded after more than one year; owing to what critics called inactivity and failure to meet its objectives. A new one was constituted!
Up till now, no one could understand the rationale for the creation of the national task force on small arms importation. At a point it turned itself into another government agency in the port; participating in cargo examination and other related activities. On a visit to the task force’s office in Lagos, it actually looked like a typical customs ‘long room’ of old; very rowdy and market-like.
There was even a time when freight forwarders also formed their own task force to counter the government the task force on small arms!
Since the issue of Cabotage implementation or lack of it, it has become a laughable tradition for every minister of transport to create his own committee to review the Act and the report keeps piling up in the ministers’ office.
The most elaborate committee work on review of Cabotage Act was the one carried out by the committee that was constituted by then-minister; Mr Okechukwu Emeka, after this, ther have been tow other committees, and there has been no recourse to the wonderful report of that committee.
There have also been committees to review port reform and port concession, the current being the one being headed by Prof Sylvester Monye.
Even though this committee which appears to enjoy the backing of government at the highest level can be credited with some successes, there is nothing to suggest that it will not go the way of previous ones.
And while we are getting used to this, yet another committee was recently inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan to coordinate inter -agency activities in the nation’s maritime oil and gas industry.
By implication, this high-powered and top-level committee which is headed by the chief of naval staff; Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogbor will superintend activities of all maritime as well as oil and gas agencies, with special attention on theft of crude oil and petroleum products.
With due respect to those who conceive them, committee have only added to the cost of governance and increased bureaucracy, neither are their findings used or found useful by the government that set them up.
We are strongly of the opinion that rather than saddle committees with the duty of superintending activities in the Nigerian maritime sector, ministers and all the top civil servants in the various ministries should be made to earn their salaries by actually putting the various agencies in check and on their toes.
There is absolutely nothing that committees and task forces are doing that departments in the ministries cannot do.
If these amorphous creations have not played any active roles in the nation’s seaports or in the successes that have been recorded in the ports, and if the agencies have been able to achieve relative sanity in the Nigerian maritime sector, why is government or the ministers ‘creating jobs for the boys’?.
The answer can be traced to the failure of the system to correct itself. If the Nigeria Customs Service has been so effectively structured and allowed to have a seamless transition in its management, the rancor which succession generates will be reduced.
Secondly, if the ports stopped being a haven for corruption, that is, when importers and others who are involved in the cargo chain embraced integrity and best practices, the need to create agencies to interfere with cargo clearance and delivery will stop. And if the Cabotage Act has met its objectives and if NIMASA has been more alive to its responsibilities, perhaps, there would have been less dependence on these committees.
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