The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) on Wednesday pledged to collaborate with Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to tackle corruption in Nigerian ports and prevent revenue leakages.
The Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello, said this when he led a delegation to pay a courtesy visit on ICPC in Abuja.
According to him, NSC is one of the agencies that collaborated with the commission on anti-corruption in 2012, which led to the improved services at the ports even though there were still some lapses.
He said that the council has seen the ports transformed from an absolute corrupt unit to the progress presently on ground due to the collaboration between the two agencies, stating that the ports are in the stage of recovery.
Bello, however, said that Anti-Corruption and Transparent unit of the ports was created and also a complaint portal to improve service delivery in the ports. “There are still challenges and I believe the more we collaborates with ICPC, the better it will be; ports and the airports are the first point of call for our visitors and investors.
“The Maritime Anti-corruption Network of Denmark as far back as 2012 has compiled a report, which indicted the Nigerian Ports as corrupt and this is a complaint by the captains, that Nigerian ports are one of the most hostile and corrupt.
“This was because there were no orderliness, there was no standard of operation, people boarding a ship became a problem because people would stay on a ship for a long time, decreasing the efficiency before the collaboration with ICPC in 2012.
“We are here to reinforce the collaboration between ICPC and NSC because the more we collaborate the better, because Nigerian ports are no longer corrupt like it used to be but more has to be done.”
Responding, the ICPC Acting Chairman, Dr. Musa Abubakar said that the commission was happy that the collaboration with NSC has yielded results and will continue to collaborate with NSC.
He said the report done in 2012 had shown some lapses, which was imperative for the collaboration to be resuscitated and should be a continuous process.
Abubakar said the commission would be ready to partner with the council to organise a seminar using technology to address corruption at the ports.
