By Kenneth Jukpor
Following the recent Executive Order signed by the Ag. President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo on the Ease of Doing Business, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has urged all agencies and port operators to display optimum compliance with procedures as contained in their published Standard Operating Procedures.
The Director, Public Enlightenment at ICPC, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa made this call at the port presentation of the harmonized Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) for the Eastern ports.
The ICPC spokesperson also admonished all port stakeholders to utilize the SOPs to conduct port business with the highest level of integrity and a keen sense of accountability in order to enhance the ease of doing business in the country.
“Through the SOPs, Nigeria has told the whole world how she conducts port business and the PSSP empowers port users to seek prompt resolution of service and integrity shortfalls. ICPC will maintain a keen watch over proceedings on the portal and will not hesitate to call upon its enforcement powers to sanction those who willfully err. Therefore, we implore all stakeholders to continue to support the government in creating a new Nigeria where service is rendered selflessly, responsibly and with dignity.” Okoduwa said.
The harmonized Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) were launched in Port Harcourt, Onne and Calabar ports on 23rd, 24th and 26th May, 2017.
The event recorded a high level of attendance by port operators and stakeholders, with the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, ably represented as well as the Chief Host of the event, Managing Director of NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was commended for its sustained support from the inception of the project as well as the Maritime Anti-corruption Network (MACN) for the Corruption Risk Assessment exercise in Nigerian Ports which led to current interventions and the series of integrity training so far conducted for ports stakeholders.
SOP is a document that shows the modus operandi of an organization and all government agencies and stakeholders at the Ports under the platform of Ports Sector Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) published their SOPs in a unified process document to improve the level of transparency and predictability of port services. On the other hand, Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) is a web portal where port facility users and other stakeholders could make complaints about services.
