Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN,
has directed the resumption of 24-hour operations at the Apapa port and
outrightly banned touting by officials or unofficial persons at any
port; be it air, land and sea ports in Nigeria.
Prof. Osinbajo had on Thursday
signed three Executive Orders dealing with the business environment,
local content in public procurement and timely budget submission. The
Orders take effect immediately.
The Acting President said in the Order that, ``the Apapa Port shall resume 24-hour operations within 30 days
of the issuance of this Order and there shall be no touting whatsoever
by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria.’’
According to the directive on port
operations, ``on duty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and
official cards while off duty staff shall stay away from the ports
except with the express approval of the agency head. The FAAN Aviation
Security (AVSEC) and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Security shall
enforce this order.’’
To vigorously address the menace of
touting at the ports, the Order expressly stipulates that ``all
non-official staff shall be removed from the secured areas of airports.
No official of FAAN, Immigration, security agency or Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MoFA) or any other agency is to meet any non-designated
dignitary at any secure areas of the airport.’
The Acting President also directed
that the official approved list of dignitaries that have been
pre-approved to be received by protocol officers shall be made available
to AVSEC and other relevant agencies ahead of their arrival at the
airport.
According to the Order, ``any
official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from passengers or other
port users shall be subject to immediate removal from post and
disciplinary as well as criminal proceedings in line with extant laws
and regulations.’’
``All relevant MDAs at the airports shall within 30 days
of the issuance of this Order merge their respective departure and
arrival interfaces into a single customer interface, without prejudice
to necessary backend procedures,’’ the Acting President directed.
On the harmonization of activities
of agencies operating at the ports, Prof. Osinbajo ordered that ``all
agencies currently physically present in Nigerian Ports shall within 60 days
harmonise 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, without prejudice to necessary backend procedures.’’
The new single interface station at
each Port, the Order stipulates, ``shall capture, track and record
information on all goods arriving and departing from Nigeria and remit
captured information to the head of the MDA and the head of the National
Bureau of Statistics on a weekly basis.’’
In addition, the Acting President,
through the Executive Order, has directed each Port in Nigeria ``to
assign an existing export terminal to be dedicated to the exportation of
agriculture produce within 30 days of the issuance Order.’’Read more at - http://www.armanikedu.blogspot.com
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