Maritime industry players have lashed out at the Federal Government and the World Bank over the stepping up of Nigeria 15 places to 131 from 146 in the previous ranking in the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index, DB.

The operators were reacting to the comments by several government officials over the ranking which they described as ‘‘a piece of official propaganda and fallacy, wetted by usual international diplomacy and patronage.

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They accused global financial institutions like the World Bank, of interest which they say is to perpetually drive a bargain in deciding the direction of fiscal and monetary policies towards their aspirations.

Chief Ernest Elochukwu, leading customs broker and business tycoon said, “I wouldn’t know the basis of the survey for the ranking. I also don’t know the sample used in the survey. I will be very surprised if the World Bank say Nigeria has moved 15 steps up from where she was three years ago in terms of ease of doing business.

“If the indices of Ease of Doing Business are to apply to the maritime sector in lieu of the World Bank ranking, then I see it as a case of going from terrible to bad. The truth however is that Ease of Doing business in the port industry has not improved one bit, it can even be said to have further gone bad especially in view of various port reforms which have ended up in abysmal failure.

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“I am not sure that those who carried out the survey took the input of critical stakeholders, and if that is the case, you can regard the ranking report is a product of Abuja propaganda.”

In his reaction, Prince Jimoh Lawal, chieftain of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agent, ANLCA, summed the report up as one of those official fallacies. He asked “If Nigeria has moved up 15 places in the past three years, where does that put the issue of container deposits, issue of harrowing port access roads and rising costs, issues of cargo clearance delays, issues of port congestion, issues of overtime cargo etc.

“Can PEBEC point out one achievement it made under Ease of Doing Business? These people in Abuja think the rest of us are idiots and unable to think. Well they can dance and celebrate their World Bank report, while we are stuck with business killer port system.”

Also speaking on the matter, President of All Ports Unified Freight Forwarding Practitioners Association, Prince Mike Okorie said, “The port industry has been under severe stress. Cargo takes more tha three weeks to get out of the port environment. Out of ten trucks leaving the port, at least two falls along the roads which currently rank as the world’s worst economic road. In most cases the goods are completely destroyed and substantially damaged, same thing with the trucks, sending owners out of job and to hospital, and sometimes to the grave.

“Maybe World Bank officials who did the ranking visisted Abuja where they were presented with fanciful statistics and indices at Sheraton hotel over delicious meals and status drinks that they got carried away. How could Ease of Doing Business have moved 15 places in a generator dependent economy, in a country where trans border trade is struggling amid legitimate import restrictions, and where the land borders have been closed down, with businesses severely strangulated.”