In accordance with the statutory powers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to prevent corruption through the study and review of corruption-prone systems of government bodies, the Commission in collaboration with development partners and stakeholders undertook a Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) of 6 ports in Nigeria (Calabar, Tincan and Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne) in 2013.
ICPC, working with partners such as Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), etc. carried out CRA in line with the Federal Government’s policy to facilitate trade and encourage foreign direct investment by addressing impediments to the latter and came up with an Integrity Plan containing recommendations to address the corruption risks in procedures at the Ports.
A project steering committee chaired by the Federal Ministry of Transportation and comprising Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC), Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Port Health OF Nigeria, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Council for Registration of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), ICPC, BPP and TUGAR was set up to coordinate the implementation of the recommendations.
Three areas of the Integrity Plan were prioritised for quick implementation. They are:
- Development, collation and publishing of a Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the entire Port Sector;
- Collation and publishing of the Anti-Corruption Policies (ACP) of the key port agencies;
- Establishment of an IT-based complaint and redress mechanism i.e. a Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) for the sector in order to ensure proper accountability and speedy resolution of issues.
All the government agencies and stakeholders operating in Nigerian ports have developed their SOPs and ACPs, and these have been harmonised into a single process document. Also, the PSSP, an online real time platform, domiciled in Nigeria Shippers’ Council, has been developed to afford users an efficient service delivery, complaints and redress system.
In furtherance of the above, ICPC is proud to announce the launching of the Port Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Anti-Corruption Policies (ACPs) and the Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) on Thursday 23rd June, 2016, by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.
Signed:
Rasheedat A. Okoduwa, mni
Spokesperson/Commissioner, Public Enlightenment Department, ICPC