Business
Transporter Accuses NRC Of Habouring Touts
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Port Harcourt, has been accused of harbouring touts in its premises, who engage in molesting innocent drivers and transporters on daily basis.
President of the Rivers Transport and Investment Cooperation Union Limited (RTICUL), Mr. Tubonimi Wokoma who alleged that railway has partnered with illegality, also expressed trauma that transporters go through on the operations of these group of people.
Wokoma explained that these group of persons have not properly identified whom they are working for, as they demand for both the Ministry of Transport (MOT) registration and colour, the Rivers State Environmental Sanitation sticker, as well as the Local Government Council stickers.
He alleged that it has become so clear that any vehicle impounded by these agents hardly go without parting with reasonable sum of at least N10,000, because as he puts it, “these boys must demand for any of the above stickers”, for which they claim that transporters must have on their vehicles.
The most annoying aspect of their operation according to the cooperative transport boss is that they do not even show sympathy for the suffering of their victims, as they would always say, “have you not heard about us in this Port Harcourt. Even governor knows that we are here, and nothing will happen”.
However, when The Tide called on the Railway station manager in Port Harcourt, Mr. Biodun Daniels for clarifications, he said that he is aware that such activities are going on at the railway premises.
Biodun explained that he met the group when he resumed office in Port Harcourt, when they were operating motorcycle (okada) business, and that they are from the Ministry of Transport and are operating legally, because the police and the Ministry of Transport made the arrangement for them.
When also contacted for comments, one of the officials of the taskforce operators who refused to disclose his identity said that they are representing the Port Harcourt City Council (PHALGA), and that because of space that was why they came to railway premises.
According to him, they do not demand for MOT and Sanitation, but that they impound vehicles that do not have daily council ticket and annual stickers and that they do not molest innocent drivers.
Corlins Walter
Business
NAFDAC Decries Circulation Of Prohibited Food Items In markets …….Orders Vendors’ Immediate Cessation Of Dealings With Products
Importers, market traders, and supermarket operators have therefore, been directed to immediately cease all dealings in these items and to notify their supply chain partners to halt transactions involving prohibited products.
The agency emphasized that failure to comply will attract strict enforcement measures, including seizure and destruction of goods, suspension or revocation of operational licences, and prosecution under relevant laws.
The statement said “The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised an alarm over the growing incidence of smuggling, sale, and distribution of regulated food products such as pasta, noodles, sugar, and tomato paste currently found in markets across the country.
“These products are expressly listed on the Federal Government’s Customs Prohibition List and are not permitted for importation”.
NAFDAC also called on other government bodies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS) Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Shippers Council, and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), to collaborate in enforcing the ban on these unsafe products.
