The Federal Government, on Monday, bowed to stakeholders’ pressure to prune down the multiple agencies and save the business class of avoidable extortion as it sacked 10 of the agencies operating at the nation’s seaports.

The Minister of Finance and head of Presidential Task Force Committee on Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who made this disclosure during her facility tour of Lagos ports in Apapa also abolished the controversial Cargo Tracking Note (CTN), as part of new reforms to improve Nigeria’s trade relations.

The minister, who was accompanied by the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and other top government functionaries, subsequently listed only the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Ports Police, State Security Service (SSS) and Ports Health as agencies henceforth allowed to function within the ports, while showing the red card to the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), plant and animal quarantine agencies, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), beginning from next week.

“It is time our ports started working. We are determined to stop corruption by removing all unnecessary checkpoints within and around the ports. We want only those that can create jobs and efficiency in our ports.We want to boost the economy. All the affected agencies are expected to leave the ports in the next two weeks” she declared, while mandating the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to begin with immediate effect, the regulation of the charges and the activities of the terminal operators for improved efficiency.

SOURCE : http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/29472-fg-sacks-10-agencies-in-the-ports