Aniebonam calls for return of ousted agencies back to port

Tayo Oladipupo |

The Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF ) Boniface Aniebonam has called on the Federal Government to return all previously ousted agencies back to the port if the ease of doing business at the port initiative is to be meaningful.

He claimed that the present system of inviting these agencies during Customs examination has not yielded the desired results.

He also took a swipe at the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye for failing to interact with stakeholders of the industry over activities bothering on trade facilitation and the ease of doing business .

Speaking in Lagos Thursday, Boniface Aniebonam stated that the purpose of the Ease of Doing Business has not yielded its objectives.

The agencies ousted by the government in 2017, included: Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) among others.
The freight forwarder said, “The issue of inviting agencies when they need them is not working, it is not adding values to the ease of doing business in the industry.
“Being in the port unofficially is creating more problems, it could lead to conivance of officials of such agencies and owners of consignments.
“We are tired, we want SON, NAFDAC, NDLEA back to the port and when issues cannot be resolved within 2 to 3 hours, whichever agency involved should escort the container to the warehouse and continue from there, ” he said.

Asked if return of all the agencies to the port would not further cause a clog in clearing process, he said the present system had failed in achieving the objectives of Presidential Enabling Business Environment (PEBEC), hence the need for a change to status quo ante.

Aniebonam recalled that late Dr. Dora Akunyili succeeded during her reign as NAFDAC boss because of her working relationship with the practitioners.
“Though the intention of the government is being appreciated, but the situation on ground is that human barrier elements do not add reasonable value for the success of this process .
“It therefore, behoves on the PEBEC secretariat to directly engage the stakeholders and sustain it’s sensitisation and enlightenment programme, while intensifying its monitoring and data collection activities .