The Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, has launched the Process Manual on Port Operations to boost efficiency and accountability in Nigeria’s port industry, and also ensure predictability.
Osinbajo launched the manual at the celebration of the 2020 International Anti-Corruption Day in Abuja on Wednesday, alongside the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Lilian Ekeanyanwu, Head, Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR).
The Vice President said that the manual would reduce bureaucratic roadblocks for stakeholders in the sector, and ensure that smuggling was stamped out in Nigerian ports.
“In 2017, Executive Order 1 was issued, essentially to address, promote transparency and efficiency in the business environment, designed to facilitate the ease of doing business,” he said.
“The Process Manual on Port Operations is expected to be one of the key indicators for the effective implementation of Executive Order 1. The Process Manual is a step by step trajectory of processes at the ports.
“It outlines the actors and timelines for each process; it guides the user by highlighting all required documentation, payments, timelines and the responsible agencies.
“It equally guides the port operators by detailing the implementation chain and provides clarity on the time required for each process.
“The process manual is expected to ensure predictability, promote efficiency and accountability, reduce corruption in the port processes, eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks faced by port users and reduce the opportunity for illegal demands in the ports,” he added.
He also said that the gains made by Nigeria would improve the country’s rating on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
“In terms of utility and relevance, the CPI and its constituent data sources are determined largely by and produced for the consumption of the business community.
“It, therefore, has significant and reputational and economic implications for countries that are being assessed.
“A successful systemic intervention in the port sector will rapidly change the narrative, the perception and the ranking of Nigeria in the CPI,’’ he said.
Osinbajo disclosed that the Manual would need to be implemented by stakeholders, especially the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, to determine its efficiency.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported earlier this week that Nigeria had experienced increased foreign trade through the ports with China, while trade with the United States had reduced since 2015, slumping to N1.5 trillion as of September 2020, compared to N2.1 trillion recorded in the same period in 2019.
- According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China/Nigeria trade topped N4 trillion in the first 9 months of 2020, compared to N3.6 trillion in the same period in 2019.
- Meanwhile, Nigeria’s total foreign trade for the third quarter of 2020 rose by 34.15% to stand at N8.4 trillion, compared to N6.24 trillion recorded in the previous quarter (Q2 2020).
