NAGAFF wants SON, NAFDAC back at ports

The founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Chief Boniface Aniebonam, on Monday advised the Federal Government to retain more agencies at the sea ports.He said agencies like the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control should be retained at the ports.Aniebonam made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had in October, sacked nine out of the 14 agencies operating at the ports to eliminate bureaucracy and make the port reforms effective.Aniebonam said the Nigerian Ports Authority should serve as host to NAFDAC and SON as well as other agencies at the ports for optimal performance.He said asking those agencies to operate outside the ports would not make for the achievement of the 48-hour cargo clearance target.SON, whose officials are located outside Lekki, will not arrive at the port on time when their attention is required, he said.Aniebonam said the government was acting under pressure by asking some of its agencies to leave the ports.He said that there were legislative instruments establishing the different agencies, which had not become obsolete.The freight forwarder said asking the agencies to leave the ports was not in the interest of the people, adding that sub-standard, fake and adulterated products were now leaving the portsEven with SON and NAFDAC at the ports, some stakeholders are still manipulating their way to wriggle out, he said.Aniebonam said NAFDAC and SON should be given offices inside the ports so that they would be able to check the influx of substandard products.
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