Ports Reforms: Govt Tackles Vested Interests

OkonjoTHE Federal Government yesterday said it is determined to drive its reforms at the nation’s ports to a successful conclusion, vested interests notwithstanding.

A source at the presidency, who hinted of a subterfuge by “entrenched” forces to topple the quit notice issued to some government agencies to vacate the ports, in line with the goal of meeting the statutory 48-hour clearance target, said there is a renewed focus within the presidency to get a conclusive result this time around.

It was gathered that, sequel to the official announcement, last week, of a Monitoring Committee for the Ports Reforms — which signaled Federal Government’s renewed resolve to tackle the challenge of huge revenue loss due to long-standing delays and corruption at the ports — there is mounting pressure on the presidency to rescind the “vacation order.”

It would be recalled that the Committee was inaugurated by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who stressed that the President Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet “remains as strong as ever,” in matters relating to sanitising the ports.

“The President has given us the marching orders and we are determined to end the nightmare in our ports, which is adversely affecting our economy, taking jobs away from our people, increasing the cost of goods and services and making life so difficult for our entrepreneurs and industrialists,” the Minister had said.

“Nigeria must become a better business destination for the world. It is totally unacceptable that we are losing business to Ghana and Benin because of the condition of our ports.”

Okonjo-Iweala, who was a guest at the Rivers State Investors Forum in Port Harcourt, two weeks ago, had also alluded to the fact that there is “a lot of pushback from vested interests” over the reforms at the ports. Calling for public support, the Finance Minister, however, gave the assurance that “the President is backing the reforms at the ports.”

Feelers from a reliable source in Abuja, yesterday, said that “there are indications that the renewed focus on the ports is motivated by the realisation within government that some entrenched interests are working hard to ensure that the ongoing reforms are aborted like previous ones.

According to him, the announcement of the reforms led to feverish lobbying by the agencies, which were ordered to leave the ports.

They “approached influential persons within the executive and the legislature to help make a case for them to stay back.”

The source further said that a   review of the more serious appeals has led to a decision to allow the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) “and a couple of other agencies continue to operate from within the ports.”

It is the belief of maritime observers that some of the complaints and representations being made to the presidency come from “interest groups that would prefer the current state of chaos at the ports because they are benefitting from the situation.”

Chief Executive of a foreign firm, who would not want his name published for fear of being victimised, said: “The confusion in the ports is not an accident. Some people are very happy with the confusion because when there is a delay, people become desperate (and) they are more willing to make all kinds of fees and unofficial payments. It’s all about money”.

Confronted with this port operator’s allegation last night, a source at the Presidency, however, allayed fears of possible abortion of the reform process, saying that “the President is very much aware of what is going on and he is determined to confront any obstacle in the way of improving the ports. The country cannot afford to keep losing money and its reputation as a business destination because of some selfish people.”

The reforms, which were approved by the President, were announced several weeks ago by Dr Okonjo-Iweala, as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, and Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman.

According to them, the key objective of the reforms is to reduce the time-wasting clearance period in the ports from several weeks (or months, in some cases) to 48 hours (two days).

The specific details of the reforms — which cover a wide spectrum of short, medium, and long-term measures — were worked out by a Presidential Advisory Group consisting of members from different maritime agencies and key ministries.

Part of the immediate measures to achieve the objective was the announcement that seven, out of the 14, agencies would no longer be permitted to operate in the ports. The Special Task Force of the Nigerian Customs Service was also disbanded.