*Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, Rtd., Comptroller General Nigeria Customs Service.
*SON, NDLEA sacked from the ports
08 June 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — FOLLOWING THE Acting President Yemi Osibajo’s Executive order regarding 24 hours port operations, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, yesterday said that it has drawn up a roster for its officers and men to run a shift process just as the Federal Government barred the Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, from the port.
Disclosing this to newsmen at a meeting with other stakeholders in Lagos, Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Col Hammed Ali (Rtd) said that the Customs Service had to adopt a shift system to enable Customs’ personnel to meet the deadline for the implementation of the of the Executive order.
Ali also said that the only way to meet up with the Executive order was to adopt a shift process of work schedule adding that officer has been intimated and are ready to comply accordingly.
“There is no way we can stretch one person for 24 hours, so we have to adopt the process of shift and that is the only way we can cover the Executive order on 24 hours port operation effectively” he added.
Similarly, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, has also said that respective Heads of agencies operating in the ports had equally issued directives to their staff to comply with the order.
She explained that yesterday’s meeting was to evaluate the implementation of the order by the various agencies in the port.
The NPA boss disclosed that part of the resolution from the meeting was the sustenance of the implementation of the Executive order.
She said “We are here today to have an interaction around the Executive order on port operation that was issued by the Acting President, and following weeks of implementation, we felt the need for all of us (Heads of agencies) to come together to determine how far our operatives have gone in implementing the Executive orders and also to harmonize our position and have one single implementation stream in implementing the order.
“We have very fruitful deliberations, we are going to sustain this deliberation as we go into the deadlines for the respective Executive orders.
“We have the orders as stipulated we have identified them and every agency have committed to deploying all human infrastructure required to achieve them”.
She also disclosed that only the NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA), Port Health, Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS), State Security Service, (SSS), Customs and Police are the only agencies allowed in the port.
It will be recalled that the Acting President, churned out some executive orders that will make the port work on a 24-hour basis, some of the orders are that
There shall be no touting whatsoever by an official or unofficial persons at any port inNigeria.
On duty, staff l be properly identified by uniforms and official cards.
Off duty, staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head.
The Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA) shall enforce their order with immediate effect.
Any official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from Port users shall be subjected to immediate removal from the port and disciplinary as well as criminal proceedings in line with extant laws and regulations
This shall be applied with immediate effect.
All agencies currently physically present in Nigerian ports shall within 60 days harmonize their operations into one single interface station domiciled in one location in the port and implemented by a single joint task force at all times, with prejudice to necessary backend procedures.
