· Despite PSTT, Shippers Council scores 19.25% in overall ranking
· Customs scores 13.57%
Oluyinka Onigbinde
The latest ranking by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) on ease of doing business initiative, may have signalled the death of ease of doing business in the Nigerian maritime industry.
The 2022 performance report that was released by PEBEC revealed that all the maritime agencies performed woefully, both in transparency and efficiency ratings.
The PEBEC was established in July 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari, to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively easier place to start and grow a business.
The Executive Order 001 (EO1) on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment issued on May 18, 2017, gives full executive support for reforms intended to foster an environment that is conducive for business by entrenching policies and practices that encourage transparency and efficiency in public service delivery.
According to the report sighted by our correspondent, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was the only agency that made the top 10 in the overall ranking on efficiency and transparency, even though its aggregate percentage score dropped from 58.09 last year to 57.10 this year.
While agencies such as: Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Shippers Council were ranked 31 and 23 positions respectively out of 36 agencies listed in the ranking, the Nigeria Port
Authority came 12th in the overall ranking, it however scored low in transparency ranking at 17%.
According to the report, the NCS earned 13.57% in its overall performance this year as compared to last year when the service earned 21.27% notwithstanding the service’s self-proclaimed trade facilitation and anti-smuggling activities, the service only managed to score an abysmal 0.45% inefficiency and 46% in transparency.
Also, checks by our correspondent revealed that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, despite the celebrated activities of the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) headed by Mr. Moses Fadipe a Director in the council, managed to earn 19.25% in its overall ranking as compared to 2020 where the council scored 50.5% in its overall performance.
Recall that the PSTT was set up by the Federal Government in 2022 to clear the port and terminal corridors of all encumbrances with the intention of making ease of doing business and port logistics more effective.
But, according to the PEBEC report, the performance of the maritime agencies including the NSC that warehouses the PSTT has rather gone worse than it used to be before the PSTT came on board.
Giving reasons the agencies in the maritime sector failed in the latest PEBEC ranking, stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry informed that the failure of agencies of government to effectively implement the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business signed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The Order had directed that agencies at the port should harmonize their operations into a single interface station at the port and implement a single joint task force, and that the port should resume 24-hour operations within 30 days of the issuance of the Order. The directive has been largely disobeyed almost five years after it was given by the Vice President.
Stakeholders lamented that the failure of government agencies to obey Executive Order 001 on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment affected the performances of the agencies at the port.
In a chat with our correspondent, a former president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Eugene Nweke lamented the poor efficiency and compliance ranking of the maritime agencies.
He said, “you cannot really separate the agencies of the government from the government itself. Just like the saying goes, “as the head is, so is the other organs of the body “, or better put “as a man thinketh so he is, because man is a product of what he is fed with.
Explaining further, Nweke said: “For instance, the word simplification and harmonization of processes and procedures via electronic means or ICT application is a corporate goal aimed to promote transparency, diligence and accountability”. He lamented that “in the place of this, we have a penchant for impunity, indulgence to manual application and compromise”.
Speaking to the poor ranking, he noted that, “how do you rank agencies in the maritime industry where port congestion seems a permanent status, where cargo dwell time is still high, where cost of doing business is high, where turn around trip of cargo trucking and cost is high, and with poor regulatory application, etc”.
He asked: “By the way, is any agency contesting against the ranking by PEBEC? “The only agency that can protest; even though not in concrete terms is the NSC, but unfortunately, economic regulation is vast and a serious engagement, so it requires legislative support to mitigate the non-compliance and high-handedness posture of some stakeholders. So, this in itself constitutes inefficiency and compromise even though unintentional” he said.
On his part President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Amiwero confirmed that in the port, the laws are not followed, alleging that the port system is not transparent, consistent and predictable.
He added that Nigeria runs one of the most uncoordinated ports in the whole world, saying nobody controls the port and there is no leading agency in the port.
He said: “So when you say ease of doing business, it has three layers, which is predictability, consistency and transparency. These are the three components you have and Nigerian ports don’t have them. Whether you called another agency, there is no where you can talk about it because what you are talking about is transparency.
“If any one of them comes out and says they are complying, they might be telling lies,” he said. “People work the way they like. At the cost of the importers, we have a very expensive port which runs without any lead agency. We don’t comply with laws, Customs, terminal operators and shipping companies do what they feel like. So, you find out that some consignments are in the port for years”.
Picking holes in the administration of our port system, Amiwero alleged that, “Shippers Council is not doing anything. Customs is doing things contradicting law. They brought retired Colonel as Comptroller General to come and reform Customs, what can he reform? A man that doesn’t have Customs knowledge, how can he reform Customs?
“A retired colonel in Military is an Assistant Comptroller in Customs. The man in Customs is more knowledgeable than the man in the Military. How can you bring a colonel that doesn’t know anything about the Customs and you expect something better? You can’t expect anything better from such a man! This government messed up a lot of things in this country,” he said.
Also, reacting just to the Customs performance, a freight forwarder and public affairs analyst; Mr Chidi Anthony Opara said, “the Customs Service in Nigeria has foundation flaws which normally affect its efficiency and transparency”.
Digging deeper, he explained that:“First, at the recruitment stage, very high-level government officials always make sure, for reasons that are not far-fetched, that persons they are interested in are recruited, irrespective of whether they are
qualified or not. Flowing from this, many unqualified persons find themselves in the service.
“Second, these unqualified persons are usually protected, promoted and placed in strategic positions due to the influences of these high-level government officials who masterminded their recruitment; their low levels of efficiency notwithstanding.
“Third, when of course there is an efficiency challenge in an organization, there would also be the tendency to be less transparent.
“Finally, it must always be emphasized that there are many qualified, efficient, patriotic and dedicated personnel in all the cadres of Nigeria Customs Service, but the constant interference by high government officials have largely denied these good ones the opportunity to shine” he said.
Reacting in like manner, the Deputy National President (Air and Logistics) of NAGAFF; Mr Segun Musa said that the PEBEC ranking was not a true representation of these agencies.
“Honestly, I see PEBEC being too generous in their ranking, especially by ranking NCS 31 out of 36; with all evidence pointing at the agency as the most corrupt agency in Nigeria”, he alleged.
According to him, “none of the agencies operating in the ports (borders, air and sea) or that has anything to do with imports and exports activities can be rated within 1 to 25 out 36. This is the reason we keep imploring the federal government to put up the thinking cap and build up the strength to implement the ports automation in such a way that only the carriage trucks will have access to the ports to drop cargoes for export or take delivery of imports”.
Reacting to its poor rating by PEBEC, the Director Consumers Affairs, Nigerian Shippers Council, Chief Cajetan Agu expressed surprise over the Council’s poor rating by PEBEC.
He explained that the Council has been able to reduce cargo turnaround time and corruption at the port following the introduction of PSTT, while questioning the criteria used in the rating.
“I am surprised as you are, you saw what we did last year in terms of the implementation of the PSTT. We are able to reduce the time it takes a ship to be cleared from the port, we were also able to reduce the incidents of corruption that were reported on board vessels, we were able to bring sanity to cargo examination, we are now doing joint examination, and the number of boxes examined per day has increased”.
Explaining further, he said, “You are aware that Customs used to stay at the Leventis bus stop Apapa (on your way out), we liaised and we discussed with the leadership of Customs and they removed all of them and traffic was flowing”.
“I think the head PEBEC is the only person who can say exactly what happened”. For me, I have also asked: What are those things that we didn’t do or didn’t do well. I am waiting for it. If I get it, I will now know where we need to make amend” he said.
Also reacting, the acting National Public Relations Officer of Customs; Abdullahi Maiwada said he could not question the rating, because he has not read the report.
He however said the service has continued to perform its duty as expected in terms of trade facilitation, anti-smuggling and other responsibilities expected of the service.
“I am yet to peruse the report, I don’t know the parameters used and I cannot question that. But as an agency of the government, we are performing our activities very well, scanners are being installed; the service is ensuring automation at the port to reduce physical contacts. Generally, we are doing well, we are discharging our responsibility in terms of anti-smuggling and ensuring trade facilitation” he said.
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