FG ups maritime anti-corruption fight with SOP, PSSP

Efforts at curbing corruption and shoring up the integrity of Nigerian ports as a means of trade facilitation have been boosted by the launch of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and the Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) at the western ports in Lagos.

Stating the need for the portal, www.pssp.ng, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, described the port system as a “hybrid service centre for global sea-borne trade, a strategic gateway that provides a myriad of services, including trade facilitation, security and safety of people and cargo within the ports and waterways.”

However, Amaechi, who was represented by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman, noted that the port sector can only “effectively and efficiently support the Nigerian economy if it faithfully delivers these services in a friendly environment devoid of conflict of interest and corrupt practices.”

And though the liner ships carry about 60 per cent (over $4 trillion) worth of goods yearly, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had before 2013 noted that Nigeria lacked the adequate “pre-requisites for port effectiveness and efficiency.”

This, he said, prompted government’s intervention in 2013 with the conduct of Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) of Calabar, Tin Can, Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne ports, aimed at “strengthening preventive mechanism by identifying corruption-prone areas, and developing integrity plans to strengthen transparency and accountability towards efficient service delivery.”

The integrity plan recommended quick “development, collation and publishing of a harmonised SOP for the entire port sector, collation and publishing of the Anti-Corruption Policies (ACP) of key port agencies and stakeholders; and establishment of an IT-based complaint and redress mechanism (the PSSP) to ensure proper accountability and speedy resolution of issues.”

The harmonised SOP and PSSP having been launched in Abuja earlier in June, he commended the collaboration among government agencies and private-sector stakeholders in the maritime sector, urging them to “drive it full circle by implementing all the recommendations of the CRA report for key port agencies and stakeholders.”

Likewise, all stakeholders should associate with this project “aimed at providing quality service to members of the public and the international community that use our ports for business, as the Federal Government seeks to leverage the potentials of the maritime sector to diversify the economy.”

Earlier in her welcome address, the NPA boss, Usman, explained that “the SOP is a document that captures and clarifies work processes, a management support tool that lays out control measures to ensure the integrity of organisational processes and also serves as a guide to the general public in their dealings with agencies, organisations and companies at the ports.”

According to her, the adoption of the initiative “seeks to enhance transparency and accountability to ensure we achieve a user-friendly business environment in the Nigerian ports for greater economic performance.”

It is an “operational standard and guides customers on what to expect at the ports, fosters accountability by serving as corruption prevention tool.”

Therefore, it is hoped that with the launch, “certain unwholesome practices by service providers at the ports will be greatly reduced, if not completely eliminated. It will become easier to detect culprits and defaulters and sanction them,” Usman added.

In her presentation, the Director of Maritime Services, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mrs. Azuka Ogor said the platform, which has over 27 SOPs from the different public and private maritime agencies so far, aims to make Nigeria more conducive for business, and ultimately the African maritime hub.

According to the NSC, the focus is to resolve issues, using the portal, before they become major problems or crisis. Noting that the SOP and PSSP are of government agencies, terminal operators and maritime stakeholders, it said the platform would upload the anti-corruption code, and the ethical conduct of its officers as reference point.

Meanwhile, the ICPC Public Relations Officer and representative, Mrs. Rashidat Okoduwa assured stakeholders that the commission would work with the portal and maritime operators’ Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs) “to redress service and integrity shortfalls, and invoke its power of enforcement where necessary”