One of the draw backs in Nigeria’s ease of doing business has been movement of goods through the ports, particularly in importation. The removal of “unnecessary agencies” from the ports, though applauded as a good development, may also impact on the nation’s (faltering) credibility in export worthiness. Added to this, the health of Nigerians may be subjected to more risks. It becomes imperative to strike a balance, writes CALEB OJEWALE.
Nigerian ports of entry; air, sea, and even land (borders) are considered nightmares for many people who import things into the country. The extortions by multiple agencies at the ports have for years fueled the clamor for irrelevant agencies to be removed. Some success was recorded in 2011 when several agencies were directed to leave the ports, including the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS). In 2017, this was strengthened when an executive order by Yemi Osinbajo, in his capacity as Acting President, directed unapproved agencies to leave the ports; air and sea.
Approved agencies included Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Immigration Services, Nigeria Customs Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Port Health, State Security Services, and Nigeria Police Force.
Decongesting the ports has been predicated on the need to improve Nigeria’s standing in terms of ease of doing business, an initiative applauded by many industry watchers. At the ports for instance, an agency like the NAQS was only to operate on a call basis when the customs deemed a consignment necessary for quarantine inspection.
With the executive order in place, however, reliable sources revealed that within 10 hours of the executive order being issued, some exporters attempted to freight 17 bags of Kola nuts to Saudi Arabia through the Murtala Muhammed International airport in Lagos, and within 48 hours, a second attempt was made at the Nnamdi Azikwe International airport, Abuja. In both cases, it was alleged that the customs service did not invite the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) to inspect and certify the commodities for exportation.
Similar acts of exportation without passing through requisite inspection were said to have contributed to the mid-2015 ban by the European Union, of Nigerian agricultural produce such as beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, meat, and peanut chips. While the ban on other commodities was lifted by the EU, that of dried beans was retained and extended by three years, on the premise that the rejected beans were found to contain between 0.03mg per kilogramme to 4.6mg/kg of dichlorvos pesticide, when the acceptable maximum residue limit is 0.01mg/kg.
Dichlorvos is considered to be highly toxic, which can cause difficulty in breathing, diarrhoea, vomiting, convulsions, and dizziness among others. Like many organophosphate (OP) insecticides, it also inhibits the enzyme cholinesterase, which results in disruption to the nervous and muscular system.
Aikaterini Apostola, Press officer, Health and Food Safety, European Commission in an emailed response to BusinessDay enquiries on the present ban, stated that “from January 2013 till April 2015, more than 50 notifications were issued to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed in relation to dried beans originating from Nigeria.
“Results provided evidence that the import of this food presents a serious risk for human health,” said Apostola further explaining “therefore, it was appropriate to suspend the import into the Union of dried beans from Nigeria, until the Nigerian authorities can provide substantial guarantees that they have put in place an adequate official control system to ensure that the products concerned comply with the relevant food law requirements.”
Vincent Isegbe, coordinating director, NAQS had suggested in previous comments that the agency’s presence at the ports is vital in achieving the control system required not just to fulfil the EU’s requirements, but that of other overseas export destinations.
He asserts that the inability of NAQS to check mate or exercise strict export control has been adduced as one of the major points of reference by the E.U in order for it to restore confidence and once again freely accept commodities exported from Nigeria.
According to Isegbe “while customs is supposed to generate money from everything that comes in or goes out; quarantine is to ensure that whatever comes in is safe for humans to eat. So while we are there to check and approve, customs is there to receive revenue and our presence there affects the volume of revenue they can get; if we reject things from either going out or coming in.”
There have however been divergent views on the need to have quarantine officers stationed at either the air or sea ports, which according to some stakeholders will undermine government’s efforts in improving the ease of doing business.
Emmanuel Ijewere, vice president, Nigeria AgriBusiness Group, expressed the view that “as a follow up to what the vice president ordered, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and FAAN have issued rules that no agency has a permanent office there. You can be invited at specific times to do specific jobs, so it is not as if they are banned from doing their job. Inspection is not a 24-hour thing, there are specific cargoes that need that and when those cargoes are coming, they too in their office must be ready to go there to do what needs to be done.”
According to Ijewere, there is no direct correlation between what the acting President has said, and the fact that irresponsible exporting will continue to take place.
“Even taking the Kolanut example, what equipment did quarantine have when they were there in order to do inspection? It is possible they didn’t even know there was nothing wrong with the Kolanut,” said Ijewere.
Michael Aderohunmu, CEO, M&K Agro limited in an earlier interview while supporting the need for stricter surveillance at the ports, noted it was not compulsory for NAQS to be there permanently.
“It is very good to have the agencies around the port, but having said that, they can also be more effective outside the ports,” said Aderohunmu.
He added that the standardised agencies can operate from anywhere and whatever service they want to render has to be done effectively. They should have the necessary equipment that will allow them to work, then training that the staff will need to ensure whatever they sanction or authenticate is valid/real.
Isegbe of NAQS, had however expressed dissatisfaction with his agency ‘operating on a call basis’, saying “When you’re asking customs to now invite us to come and inspect, what do you think will happen? Since our jobs run contrary (as NAQS could reject things from coming into the country if found unworthy), and Customs would want to help the country in generating revenue, for which quarantine is also a beneficiary and the government has given them a target to be met, where do we strike the balance? Can we strike a fair and favourable balance? We should be there all the time to do our job.”
On the other side of the debate, Africanfarmer Mogaji, CEO, X-Ray Farms, expressed the view that not having quarantine at the ports “is going to have a bad effect.”
“Even when the quarantine was there Nigeria has suffered huge blows to export, how much more if there is no quarantine?” Mogaji asked.
Mogaji added, “I can tell you that the quarantine guys are very effective, but they are not funded. They should be moving across farms and all, but they are not well funded, so it is a huge challenge also.”
Being at the port at all times is where the contention lies. While the NAQS no doubt has an important function to perform at the ports, the abuse perpetrated by several agencies over the years has made many people wary of having too many of them permanently stationed there. The need for requisite inspections and certifications to be conducted is clear, the modality for doing this, is however the bone of contention.
A common denominator in views is that, regardless of government’s decision on whether or not to have the quarantine service stationed at the ports, other agencies, particularly the customs service should endeavour to mandate relevant items go through requisite screening.
This is important in order to curb the culture of “irresponsible exportation and importation”. Curbing irresponsible exportation is important in order to avoid further denting of the country’s image in terms of export worthiness. Furthermore, curbing haphazardly coordinated importation of agricultural (and food) related items will ensure the health of Millions of Nigerians is not continually put at risk.
Part of the response provided to BusinessDay by the EU commission stated that Nigeria’s present ban on bean exports “will be lifted prior the deadline as soon as Nigeria will have provided satisfactory evidence that it will be able to certify safe exports of beans.
“The overall work which is currently undertaken will allow Nigeria to set up an effective system of control with a positive impact on the whole AGRI food sector, public health and commodity exports,” the EU said.
This article was first published in BusinessDay on July 27, 2017. Yemi Osinbajo was Acting President in 2017; a correction of the year 2016 in the original publication.
