WASHINGTON: Nigeria has launched standard operating procedures and an information management platform to tackle widespread corruption and inefficiencies in operations at its major ports. Standard operating procedures have been developed for all agencies operating at the country’s ports and a Port Service Support Portal, or PSSP, was launched as a transparent system to deal with complaints over port operational and integrity issues. The portal also serves as a central source of information and clarification on port operating procedures, standards, rules and regulations.
The move follows publication of a study supported by the United Nations Development Project on the operations of agencies at the ports that assessed corruption risks and identified measures to help mitigate those risks. One of the findings of the study was that a minimum of 79 signatures from government officials was required to clear individual shipments for import. A steering committee chaired by the Ministry of Transport set up after the study’s release recommended the development of SOPs for all agencies operating at the ports as well as an information management platform for the dissemination of critical information and handling of complaints in a structured and transparent manner.
“Technology remains one of the most important ways by which we can control corruption aside from ensuring that corrupt officials are made to face the consequences,” Yemi Osinbajo, vice president of Nigeria said at the launch of the system. The SOPs and portal are designed to enhance process efficiency through standardization and improve the handling of internal and external complaints from port agents. The system will improve transparency, accountability and create a more user-friendly business environment at the ports, Osinbajo said.
The UN study identified weak administration practices and institutions, huge discretionary powers on the part of port officials, widespread poverty and security issues as the main causes of corruption. “It takes 79 signatures to process a shipment in some ports, while in other ports it takes up to 100 signatures. This shows that the process is not harmonized, giving rise to corruption,” said Constantine Palicarsky, one of the consultants who worked on the study.
Nigeria is ranked 182 out of 189 countries in the Trading Across Borders category of the World Bank’s 2016 Ease of Doing Business survey. It takes an average of 298 hours and costs $1,077 to undertake border compliance import procedures in Nigeria, according to the World Bank. This compares with an average of 160 hours and $693 for Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The OECD average is 9 hours and $123 for import border compliance procedures.
The PSSP is hosted at the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, which said it would do everything in its power to ensure all agencies and personnel complied with the new SOPs. “The initiative is to eliminate issues that cause unnecessary delays in the clearance of cargo. We want to be able to compare with international standards, to cut delays and corruption,” said Council chief executive officer Hassan Bello.
Bello said Nigeria’s port system was largely primitive in matters of disseminating critical information and data management, and that the new system would improve efficiency by reducing unnecessary human intervention in processes, helping reduce cargo dwell times. Bello also appealed to local journalists to help drive improvement in the country’s port sector by focusing on the solutions to the problems it faced.
