The Federal Ministry of Transportation has approved N180 million for Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) to fight corruption and prevent other maritime crimes across seaports in the country.
Dr Magdalene Ajani, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry disclosed this at the 3rd roundtable on Maritime Sector Reforms: “Consolidating the Gains,” held in Lagos on Wednesday and organised by the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and Convention on Business Integrity (CBI).
Represented by Babatunde Sule, Ajani noted that the Federal Government instructed Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to provide funds and operational vehicles for the PSTT.
According to her, N60 million was mandated for each of the government agencies so the PSTT can be fully functional to carry on the anti-corruption crusade across the nation’s ports.
“Port administration policy is such that port users are able to demand, track, and ensure greater compliance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by government agencies.
“And so, incidences of corrupt demands as it relates to vessel clearance has reduced.
“Government capacity to establish policy on compliance systems and collaborate with the private sector and civil society to improve trade flows and the ease of doing business are being strengthened,” she said.
The National Coordinator of PSTT, Mr Moses Fadipe, who confirmed the approval for the operations of the task team said only NSC, has so far responded to the government’s instruction. He added that NIMASA and NPA, were yet to respond and the PSTT had not received anything from them.
Fadipe noted that the Nigerian maritime sector had made significant progress towards promoting efficiency and transparency in recent years.
“The PSTT has played a significant role in transforming the sector through its commendable monitoring and enforcement of adherence to the provisions of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual and in its discharge of other ancillary mandates.
“The task team’s interventions have led to a reduction in inefficiencies and corruption, and there has been a positive impact on the economy.
“Strict monitoring and enforcement of joint boarding of vessels procedure, transparency in monitoring, strict monitoring of joint cargo examinations, and the dismantling of illegal checkpoints and extortion points have all contributed to the improvement of the sector,” he said
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