The federal government is refocusing on the recent policy that stipulate 48 hour clearance of goods at all Nigerian ports through the inauguration a 17-member committee to monitor the implementation of the new policy. BusinessWorld Intelligence can disclose that the inauguration of the committee further underlines government’s resolve to achieve full implementation of the policy.
BusinessWorld Intelligence can also disclose that operations of the Nigerian ports over the years have been associated with inefficiency and corruption due to poor infrastructure, poor work ethics by all the agencies as well as multiplicity of agencies at the port. Most of these agencies seem to compound smooth operations at the ports and have made business at the port unfriendly thus forcing most importers to use ports of neighbouring countries in the West African region.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance and co-ordinating minister of the economy, while inaugurating the committee, disclosed that the membership of the committee was drawn from volunteers from the private sector. Iweala further disclosed the members were chosen based on their integrity, honesty and transparency
Iweala stated that President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier given a matching order to make clearance of goods in the ports competitive. The minister stated that the life of the committee will last as long as the problem in the ports persists. The 17-member committee is headed by Professor Sylvester Monye, special adviser to the president on performance monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). Other members of the committee include Mr. Cosmas Maduka, chief executive of Coscharis Group; Engineer Wolfgang Goetsch, chief executive of Julius Berger Nigeria Limited; Alhaji Olayiwola Shitu, a representative of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents among others.