Tuesday’s resolution of the House of Representatives ordering the trio of National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to return to the ports has infuriated the Presidency which also yesterday ordered the arrests of any officials of the affected agencies who dare come into the ports.
Tuesday’s resolution of the House of Representatives ordering the trio of National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to return to the ports has infuriated the Presidency which also yesterday ordered the arrests of any officials of the affected agencies who dare come into the ports.
Apparently shocked by the moves by the affected agencies to return to the port from where they were sacked in October last year, President Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly directed the affected ministries to discountenance the resolutions.
To demonstrate its seriousness the presidency late yesterday reaffirmed that only eight agencies can operate from the sea port. a statement issued yesterday by the presidential committee listed the agencies as: NPA, CUSTOMS, NIMASA, POLICE, SSS, PORT HEALTH, IMMIGRATION and NDLEA.
Shipping Position Daily confirmed late yesterday that the Presidency has also directed the Presidential Implementation Committee on Port Reform to intensify its on-going reforms of the nation’s ports, which led to the sack of the agencies in the first instance
Consequently, the Presidential Implementation Committee has directed all port users to discountenance the purported directive given to the government agencies that were sacked from the ports late last year to return to the nation’s seaports.
The trio of National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were affected by the October 2011 directive of the Minster of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala that agencies whose presence are inimical to the desire of government to achieve 48 hour cargo clearance should vacate the ports.
Since then, the affected agencies have been lobbying to get back into the ports, and the lobby yielded results on Tuesday when the House of Representatives adopted the report of its committees on Health, Commerce, Industries, Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes which recommended that the affected agencies should be allowed to resume operations at the ports.
Presenting the report for consideration at plenary, committee chairman, Honourable Ndudi Elumelu opposed the finance minister and argued that SON, NAFDAC and NDLEA were statutorily empowered to monitor the importation of certain categories of imports at the nations seaports.
But less than 24 hours after the House resolutions, the Presidential Committee on Port Reform faulted the law makers and stated that the decision to sack the government agencies was an executive action.
Speaking exclusively to Shipping Position Daily yesterday, a member of the committee, Prince Olayiwola Shittu affirmed that the committee members had contacted themselves on the latest development and added that the chairman of the committee, Prof. Sylvester Monye has assured port users that there is nothing like the agencies coming back to the ports.
“I called the chairman in my capacity as the national president of ANLCA and he told me that there is nothing like that, and I can confirm to you that any chief executives of the affected agencies who rely on the resolution and sends his or her boys to the ports will be reprimanded appropriately”, he confirmed to our correspondent.
Our correspondent also learnt that, to give vent to the order to arrest any SON, NAFDAC or NDLEA personnel that show up in the port, the Presidency may have officially written the Nigerian Ports Authourity and the Port Police to ensure that the arrest is effected.
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