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apathy and fear of retribution were introduced . They are the Port Service Support Portal ( PSSP ), MACN Local HelpDesk , and User Experience Diary . These were developed as support and incident escalation mechanisms .
• MACN & CBi promoted this arrangement vigorously to stakeholders to increase the trust they were willing to have in sharing reports and information with the government of Nigeria .
• Business Ombudsman-like function was implemented by the Nigerian Shippers ’ Council ( NSC ), which takes up reports made and escalates them within and outside government to concerned parties while doing an excellent job of acting to stop any loss while a case is being handled . The NSC also ensures proper follow-up and case resolution .
• The PSTT has facilitated an Accountability Mechanism since its inauguration in March 2020 . The PSTT is headed by a representative of the Nigeria Shippers Council ( NSC ) and includes representatives from the Nigeria Ports Authority ( NPA ), the Department of State Security ( DSS ) and the
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anti-corruption commission ( ICPC ), giving natural teeth to enforcement actions against errant officials . The introduction of consequences significantly reduced recklessness in the behaviour of officials .
• Compliance functions are introduced in each agency and location to strengthen the Accountability Mechanism .
Conclusions The MACN and later CBi , represent an appreciable Civitas to the government of Nigeria . They have been able since 2012 to maintain the narrative of support for the policy priorities of various administrations in Nigeria . They worked with the government to clarify to shipping companies , shipmasters and other stakeholders the rules and the extent of the authority of 14 regulatory agencies in the ports and terminals , which then enabled them to define and track incidents of non-compliance and seek redress accordingly . The adjudication process was facilitated because there is an agency to play the role of Business Ombudsman that also has incentives to escalate issues , follow up and ensure
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resolution . The reporting is further made possible by training provided to once reticent stakeholders and a real-time responsive HelpDesk that insulates them from interacting directly with dreaded officials if they do not have the confidence or conviction to .
The work of the Business Ombudsman was further facilitated by a PSTT which can deliver swift consequences to officials who choose to ignore the agreed rules . After ten years , a shared value system and set of beliefs are now gradually being socially constructed and vessels that show a clear link to MACN are no longer receiving careless treatment from officials . The entire arrangement provides an issue escalation route by a government-appointed Ombudsman that is mostly self-less , operating simply and communally in the interest of the system as Plato envisaged of his ‘ Guardians ’ and the seeming freedom of the arrangement from “ the greed and lust that tempts others to abuse power ” ( Lane 2016 ) also suggests characteristics of Plato ’ s ‘ Philosopher Kings .’ One may not align too rigidly with all that Plato expounds in the Republic . However , the text has suggested a possibility I have presented in this paper describing a Civitas Mechanism of Control .
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So , in a zone of weak governance like Nigeria , where MACN members have to subject their business to persons they do not appoint , cannot monitor and have no power to sanction , they are finding that a Civitas mechanism of control is helping to reduce the information asymmetries and moderate the power imbalances that hitherto left them as victims . As Egypt , Ukraine , India , Pakistan and Bangladesh see some value in replicating this mechanism ; more research is needed to properly define the components and shrink-wrap a set of instructions on when and how to deploy it towards corruption reduction in zones of weak governance . |