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SON’s despicable desperation to return to port.

The Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim

On October 26th, 2011, there was a Presidential directive that pruned down the mushroom government agencies at the ports to only eight.

The directive issued by Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the erstwhile Minister of Finance, was consequent upon the multiplicity of agencies whose operations made clearance procedures at the ports painfully slow, cumbersome, and unwieldy.

During this period, there were government agencies in excess of 14 in number whose operations made the  Nigerian ports the most expensive and inefficient on the African Continent.

So, the 2011 presidential order recognised the following government agencies to domicile at the ports.  The Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA), Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA), Nigeria Police, Department of State Security((DSS), Port Health, Nigerian Drugs Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) and Nigerian Immigration Service.

While others not mentioned on the list were consigned outside the ports, those whose services are still required among them in the course of port processes such as the Standards Organization of Nigeria(SON) and National Food and Drugs Administration Control(NAFDAC) are to be called in whenever the need arises.

However, this Presidential directive was obeyed in the breach as those evicted agencies stayed put at the ports.

In February 2018, as a result of its desire to ease the cumbersome nature of doing business at the ports, the Federal government, through its committee charged with sanitising the operations at the ports, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, gave the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) the matching order to enforce the 2011 Presidential Directives.

So all the outlawed government agencies were effectively weeded out of the ports.

But because of the allure of the filthy lucre at the ports, the evicted agencies launched aggressive lobbying, using instruments of blackmail, half-truths and outright lies to get the sympathy of the government in their bid to return to the ports.

Both the NAFDAC and Immigration used these tools of blackmail and lobbying to get themselves smuggled black into the port.

A few months after this directive, the NAFDAC lobbied the presidency and succeeded in its plan when the Federal government recalled the agency to be part of resident operatives at the ports.
The Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), one of the evicted agencies, is currently taking this same inglorious route to come back to the port where their operatives have regarded it as a honeycomb.

This development has therefore emboldened the SON to step up its own campaign to return to the port.The agency, in recent times, has tried all the tricks in the book to gain the sympathy of stakeholders and the government to regain its entry into the ports.

It is on this plank we are advising the Federal Government not to once again succumb to the antics and yield to the pressure of SON and its paid agents.
It is unfortunate that the government allowed itself to be hoodwinked by NAFDAC and Immigration.Falling for the same gimmicks by the SON would be most grievous that will give other evicted agencies justification to also want to come back to the ports.

As it were, those numbers of agencies permitted to be at the ports are still unwieldy as the processes at the ports have not significantly improved to the point all stakeholders would have wanted them to be.

Allowing SON to join the fray will further compound the problems.
We are yet to see any reason why SON is making subterranean moves to come back to the ports.The excuses being bandied about by its paid agents are as ludicrous as they are ridiculous.

The agency claimed that their absence at the ports has allowed fake and sub-standard products to gain access to the ports and same cleared into the market.

This argument flies away in the face of the component of the presidential directive that any of the agencies not resident at the ports should be called whenever their expertise is needed in the course of goods clearance procedures.
We, therefore, have no reason not to believe that the Nigeria Customs Service, which is the lead agency at the ports and goods clearance procedures, does not heed this aspect of the directive.We also strongly believe that SONCAP, a pre-shipment verification exercise adopted by the agency should have detected and taken care of such sub-standard products at the point of shipment.

SONCAP is a pre-shipment verification of conformity to standards process used to verify that products to be imported into Nigeria are in conformity with the applicable NIS or approved equivalents, and technical regulations before shipment.

Under the SONCAP regime, imports are required to undergo verification and testing at the country of supply (Exporting) and a SONCAP Certificate (SC) issued demonstrating that the products meet the applicable standards and regulations or a Non-Conformity Report (NCR) where the goods do not comply.

The conformity assessment elements undertaken in SONCAP include but are not limited to physical inspection prior to shipment, sampling, testing and analysis in accredited laboratories, audit of production processes and systems, and documentary check of conformity with regulations and overall assessment of conformity to standards.

Having gone to this extent to profile all imports at the points of supply to make sure that fake and sub-standard products are not even shipped into the country, this extensive procedure has nullified any need for SON to come back to the ports.

We can safely conclude that their passion to come back despite the stringent conditions of SONCAP is simply to engage in other uncharitable activities such as extortion.

We also want to believe that the deluge of the  Nigerian markets with fake and sub-standard products is a screaming testimony that the SONCAP regime of the SON has failed.

It, unfortunately, gives credence to the widespread belief that the SONCAP Certificates are not necessarily issued to importers on merit but given to the highest bidders.

We advise SON to shelve its ambition of coming back to the ports but instead concentrate on performing its statutory duties at the ports on demand.

The agency should also insist on strict enforcement of the SONCAP regime to stem the high tide of the influx of harmful products into the country.

Government should make it mandatory for customs to call operatives of SON whenever regulated products are being examined and also to ensure that they have the exclusive right to determine the genuineness of any SONCAP Certificates submitted by importers.

This is imperative because it is not within the competence of customs officers to detect fake or genuine SONCAP Certificates.

On Thursday, April 14th, 2022, SON however took its desperation to a dizzying level when it gathered stakeholders in Apapa, Lagos to renew its incessant calls to return to the port.
The gathering, which was ostensibly meant to sensitise stakeholders on the evil of fake and substandard products, was used by SON to demonise the Customs which it accused of blocking the agency from receiving alerts on fake and substandard products and gain the sympathy of gullible stakeholders who began to campaign for the return of SON to the ports.

The  Director-General of  SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, had at the forum, accused the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) single-window portal of blocking SON from registering alerts on suspicious imported items.

Salim had claimed that the inability of SON  to trigger alerts through the  Nigeria Customs Integrated System (NICIS II) portal to stop a suspected cargo has exacerbated the influx of fake and substandard products into the Nigerian market.

Dr. Salim declared that the only solution to the problem is for the agency to return back to to the Port.

Curiously, all the stakeholders in the forum, including the two leading freight forwarding associations, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), all chorused the banal reasons why SON should return to the port.

We are aware that NAGAFF has been the campaigner- in Chief of SON’s desperate bid to stage a comeback.

But in recent times, the agency has recruited more stakeholders into its large army of lobbyists.

The latest is the ANLCA which has joined in the fray to railroad SON back to the port.

Curiously, these same associations have accused SON in the past of its unwholesome practice of illegal taking product samples for examination.

 “Other agencies and parastatals of government in the ports like Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) among others, operate outside their mandates as stipulated in the various acts establishing them. In fact, it has been a whole lot of confusion in the ports and their environment.

“This ensuing confusion over the years has been capitalised on, to rip off port users, consequently, this makes Nigerian ports most expensive and unfriendly in sub-Saharan Africa,” NAGAFF once said of the activities of SON

The Coordinator of its 100 percent Compliance team, Ibrahim Tanko, in 2021 has accused the same SON of indiscriminately taking product samples for examination.
If the agency that hasn’t been permitted into the port could be behaving in this manner, what happens if it is eventually readmitted into the Port.
We are also curious about the sudden love of SON by NAGAFF which has vilified the reckless nature of the SON’s officers at the port.
We are equally miffed at ease with which the ANLCA bit the bait of SON’s inordinate campaign.
We believe that SON’s clamour to return to the port is self-serving and uncharitable.
The return of the agency will further complicate the cargo clearance procedure and encumber the cargo examination process which the government is assiduously trying to unbundle and simplify through the use of scanners.
 
Concerned stakeholders, who are not among the paid agents of SON, have queried the continuous and almost unending clamour of SON to come back to the port.
 
Eugene Nweke, the former National President of NAGAFF, has described the clamour of SON to come back to the port as unnecessary, distractive, uncharitable and unnecessary.
He said the agency should rather channel its energy and focus on how to discharge its core mandate.
We advise the management of SON to deploy into good use the scarce resources it was wasting on lobbying  and campaigning for its inordinate ambition of coming back to the port

Rather than allow SON to come back through the back door to further muddle up the already complicated processes at the ports, it won’t be out of place if the government finds a way of removing any resident agency whose functions could be carried out from outside the port.

It is through this that Nigerian ports will become more efficient, cost-effective, competitive and gain ascendancy on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index.

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Commentaries

The 150 percent increase in Seafarers’ wages: Can NIMASA break foreign stranglehold on Nigeria’s waters?

The Monday Discourse with  Ibrahim Nasiru

During the recent Day of the Seafarer celebrations, a major policy bombshell dropped that sent shockwaves through the maritime industry.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) announced a massive 150% wage increase for local seafarers.

By integrating international maritime standards into local contracts, the government is finally attempting to address a long-standing injustice: the systemic underpayment of the men and women who keep our maritime trade afloat.

On paper, it looks like an incredible victory for labour and a massive step forward for the thousands of young cadets who have gone through the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).

But as any seasoned observer of Nigerian policy knows, a wage increase on paper means absolutely nothing if you do not possess a job to earn it.

The uncomfortable reality is that a 150% salary boost is completely useless if local shipping companies are priced out of the market, or if foreign vessels continue to dominate our territorial waters.

Nigeria passed the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act way back in 2003 with a very clear, patriotic objective: domestic coastal trade was supposed to be reserved strictly for Nigerian-owned, Nigerian-built, and Nigerian-crewed vessels.

It was designed to build local capacity and ensure that our wealth stayed within our borders.

Yet, over two decades later, the spirit of that law is routinely violated every single day. The maritime sector has structural friction that cannot be solved by simply adjusting a salary scale.

The biggest culprit here is the infamous cabotage waiver system. For years, international shipping lines have exploited regulatory loopholes to secure endless ministerial waivers.

These waivers allow foreign-flagged ships with entirely foreign crews to operate freely in our domestic waters, moving cargo between Lagos, Onne, and Port Harcourt.

They claim that local capacity does not exist, using that excuse to completely bypass local seafarers. As a result, highly qualified Nigerian captains, engineers, and cadets are left stranded on shore, watching foreign mariners take the jobs that legally belong to citizens.

This creates a brutal, double-edged sword for the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and the leadership at NIMASA. If they strictly enforce the new 150% wage scale without aggressively shutting down the illegal waiver pipeline, they will accidentally make Nigerian seafarers even less competitive.

Foreign shipowners will simply argue that local labour has become too expensive, giving them more incentive to lobby for waivers and bring in their own crews.

If this modernization plan is going to be anything more than a political talking point, the government must find the raw regulatory spine to enforce the law.

Enforcement is where our institutional bottlenecks always lie. It is easy to hold a press conference and celebrate a new minimum wage agreement.

It is an entirely different ballgame to deploy interceptor boats, audit shipping manifests, and fine multi-national shipping giants that refuse to hire local mariners.

The stakes are far too high for half-measures. We are currently trying to reposition Nigeria as the dominant maritime hub for West Africa under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

You cannot build a maritime empire by relying exclusively on foreign labour and foreign capital.

A 150 percent raise is a beautiful, necessary acknowledgment of the value of our seafarers. But the real test of this policy will not be judged by the signatures on the new collective bargaining agreement.

It will be decided by whether the government possesses the political will to completely crush the waiver cartel, protect local shipping lines, and ensure that when a vessel sails through Nigerian waters, it is a Nigerian hand resting on the helm.

 

Chief Ibrahim Nasiru,a Public Affairs analyst,writes from Abuja

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Commentaries

The NIMASA claim of 150 percent salary raise for Nigerian Seafarers : A fiction or reality?

Nasiru Ibrahim

The Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru focuses on  NIMASA’s claim of a massive 150 percent wage increase for local seafarers which sounds like an incredible milestone for Nigerian maritime labour.

But a higher salary scale means absolutely nothing if you do not possess a job to earn it.

Dropping tomorrow morning, July 6th, 2025, we go behind the celebratory headlines to look at the brutal policy war over the Cabotage Act, the illegal waiver cartels, and why qualified Nigerian mariners are still being left stranded on shore while foreign crews dominate our territorial waters.

Don’t miss “The 150% Raise: can NIMASA break the foreign stranglehold on Nigeria’s Waters?”

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Commentaries

Turning the Tide: How Nigerian ports earned global recognition

Monday Discourse with  Ibrahim Nasiru
For decades, the narrative surrounding Nigerian maritime gateways was dominated by stories of bureaucratic gridlock, crippling congestion, and costly logistics delays.
However, a major structural shift is underway.
The World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence recently released the 2025 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), delivering an international endorsement of Nigeria’s maritime modernization.
For the first time in history, Nigeria’s primary seaports—Tin Can Island Port Complex and Apapa Port Complex—have been ranked among the Top 20 Most Improved Ports globally.
According to the index, Tin Can Island Port ranked 10th globally in performance gains, improving its CPPI score by an impressive 42 points.
 Closely following, Apapa Port secured the 12th spot worldwide with a 35-point increase.
This data-driven bench mark tracks actual vessel call data, evaluating real-world metrics like ship turnaround times, berth productivity, and operational coordination.
By out performing established global hubs like France’s Marseille Port, Nigeria has signaled to international shipping lines that its gateways are shedding their legacy of inefficiency.
This global recognition is not an accident; it is the direct out come of a deliberate, continuous improvement paradigm championed by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho.
The NPA has aggressively focused on automation and digitization to remove human bottlenecks through the streamlined deployment of the electronic call-up system and single-window digital tracking.
Furthermore, slashing bureaucracy has reduced long delays that previously forced shipping lines to divert to neighboring West African Ports, while equipment modernization has upgraded critical terminal infrastructure under the strategic guidance of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola.
The real world dividend of these operational upgrades is clearly visible in Nigeria’s macroeconomic indicators.
Faster vessel turnaround times directly drive down freight costs and logistics expenses, allowing trade velocity to skyrocket.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirms that these maritime efficiencies strongly supported Nigeria’s remarkable ₦7.54 trillion trade surplus in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026.
By providing a highly responsive and predictable platform for both imports and export-bound agricultural and solid mineral commodities, the NPA has integrated seamlessly into President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broader economic revitalization agenda.
While this World Bank ranking marks a historic milestone, the leadership at the NPA recognizes that this is a baseline, not a finish line.
As Dr. Dantsoho noted, the next institutional mountain to climb is sustaining this momentum.
The ultimate objective is to transition Nigeria’s Ports from being merely the “most improved” to standing firmly among the most competitive and highly efficient logistics hubs on the planet.
For global investors, international shipping consortia, and local businesses, the message from the 2025 CPPI report is unmistakable: Nigeria’s maritime sector is open for business, modernized, and built for growth.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja
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