GoldCircle:

But can some one please tell me who will thus be responsible for screening and confiscating  fake and substandard drugs and products at the port before they get to the end users? I agree these agencies were suddenly becoming monsters, but we also cannot forget in a hurry the numerous seizures of substandard drugs and products by NAFDAC & SON respectively at the ports not to talk of the large catchment of arms discovered recently at the ports.

Babasessy:

FG sacks NAFDAC, NDLEA, others from seaports


……disbands Customs taskforce

As part of efforts to make the seaports efficient, cheaper and more userfriendly, the Federal Government has announced the sack of some government agencies comprising of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and Standards Organisation of Nigeria from the nation’s seaports.

Also affected in the shake-up, which reduced government agencies operating at the seaports from 14 to about six are Directorate of Naval Intelligence, Nigerian Plant Quarantine Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
__________________________________________________________________________



Director General, Dr. Paul B. Orhii
__________________________________________________________________________

This development puts paid to series of protests, accusations and counter accusations by most port users and other stakeholders for more than a decade, as they believe that these agencies, apart from helping to increase cost of operation, also constitute a major threat to the realisation of efficiency and timely release of cargo.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who paid an unscheduled visit to the ports in Lagos on Monday in company of Minister of Transport, Mallam Idris Umar[color=#990000][/color], Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Services, Mr. Leke Oyewole and some members of the Economic Management Team announced the sack of these agencies.

The minister, who addressed newsmen after inspection of the ports said; I am with a simple message from Mr. President and that message is that it is time for our seaports to start working and they must start working for honest and hardworking Nigerians not for those who are working to make things more complicated, make money out of our ports and make things more difficult for honest business person man or woman in this country.

“We must make our ports work for Nigerians who want to create jobs, that is really what Mr. President wants us to do and our being here today is a demonstration that we need to act and that this is no longer time for talking. We know that without an efficient port system, there would be high cost in the economy and so what we are doing now is to reduce those costs so that our business people would have the wherewithal to create more jobs’, the Minister insisted.

She noted that apart from the statutory agencies like the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, government agencies allowed to operate in the ports are Nigeria Customs Service, State Security Service, Police and Port Health, bringing a total of six as against the former 13.

The minister had also announced the scrapping of the controversial Comptroller General of Customs taskforce, which had been accused of extortion and corruption. According to her, the objective of these fresh reforms is to reduce the time spent in clearing goods from about four weeks to one week or less as is the case in some sister African seaports.

She also disclosed that the reform was aimed at checking the increasing cases of extortion and corruption by dismantling all the unnecessary check-points in the process of cargo clearance and also reduce the cost of doing business at the seaports, make them as efficient as possible.

She had also disclosed that the second phase of the reform was to improve on the infrastructure, as she introduced 24-hour operation for the seven days of the week at the seaports thereby abolishing the former system whereby the seaports open at 8am and close 5pm.

Meanwhile, Chief Boniface Aniebonam, founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, who reacted to the sack of the agencies; said that that had been long over due. Another freight forwarder, Mr. John Ofobike, chairman of the Apapa chapter of the Association of Government Approved Licensed Customs Agents while reacting to the development commended the government for taking the bull by the horn.


                                                                              http://nationalmirroronline.net/business/business-and-finance/22595.html

they make it sound like She just called the Umar, and said oya follow me!
Umar: Yes ma

You go fear coordinating minister now good move btw

2mch:

Another very dumb move. So now Nigeria will be flooded with fake drugs, fake products, weapons and all sorts of things. Wow, the brilliance of the economic team set up by Jona is mind boggling. Are we really sure that these over pampered trash that we bring from all over the world under the disguise that they are from "elite" schools are not better off being just professors? They seem to lack ability to apply themselves in common sense environments. This is like one step forward, one million back. Now all the terrorist groups will have free opportunity to import anything, as long as they can bribe the right person. Goodluck Nigeria.

Torombo:

I'm a bit dumbfounded that most posters think that reducing the number of agencies at the ports from 13 to 6 is a bad.

This situation is similar to what obtains at the MMA with a plethora of agencies checking and wasting your time hoping for an opportunity to take money from you.

I have travelled extensively internationally for 25+ years and in most places [size=14pt]the only officials you need to interact with are Immigration and security clearance 99.9% of the time[/size].

lonamy:

I am begining to believe that GEJ actually has the interest of Nigeria at heart.
My Oga, please continue this good work and you have to do more.