AMG Logistics Update: Bala Usman: Govt agencies disobeyed Osinbajo’s Executive Order

Hadiza Bala Usman, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), said that a number of federal government agencies working in ports disobeyed the Directive and the Executive Order signed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to ensure 24-hour port operations and cooperation between those agencies.

Usman said this in an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Thursday.

The NPA Leader said that Osinbajo while serving as acting president in 2017, signed an Executive Order to encourage openness and productivity in the business climate and ordered the resumption of 24-hour operations at the port of Apapa and prohibited allotment by officials or non-commissioned persons at any port; air, land, and seaports in Nigeria.

However, she noted that, aside from the NPA, other federal government departments had failed to comply with the Executive Order and that no punishment had been levied on them.

Usman said, “If you remember, there is an Executive Order signed by the Vice-President, which ordered all government departments to perform inspections (of containers) at one location, and that Executive Order was signed in 2017.

“Some government agencies have not complied and one of the things we have said is that penalties for non-compliance with the Executive Order that has been issued cannot be placed on Nigerian ports.

“If the Agency of Government breaches an order of 450 executives signed by the Vice-President, I agree that the Vice-President and indeed the Presidency should discipline the Agency for non-compliance, but that has not been achieved. The Executive Order aimed to have all the agencies reviewed at one venue and so the consignees should not have to have several places of inspection.”

The NPA leader said that she had referred the matter to the Presidential Council on Ease of Doing Business headed by Prof. Osinbajo, but no penalty had been given to the errant agencies.

Usman claimed that port activities would not run smoothly if it were just the NPA that would fulfill its responsibility.

“To that point, there is an Executive Order. Any entities have declined to comply. There have been a variety of reasons and justifications for the inability of these organizations to cooperate. The NPA referred it to the Presidential Council on Ease of Doing Business chaired by the VP to ensure punishment for non-compliance and, as I keep saying if the Order is released and the agencies do not comply if there are no penalties for behavior and inability to act, which means that I have not done so.

“We have to be held responsible for not complying with the Order. We have, for example, a 24-hour port service that has been guided. Both government entities are expected to mobilize staff for 24-hour port service. We deployed our personnel, but the remainder of the legs were missing. And we cannot, of course, sanction other government departments.

“We have drawn the attention of the Presidential Council on Ease of Doing Business to ensure that these entities indeed engage in 24-hour ports and that the Presidency’s inability to adhere is due to an executive order,” she said.