The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has called for an urgent deployment of scanners in the seaports.
The National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Mr. Joe Sanni, who made this call in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week in Lagos, also said that with scanners at the nation’s seaports, the issue of cargo delays will be a thing of the past.
Sanni also called for transparency in the way terminal operators and shipping lines operate at the ports.
“We could do better than we are doing now, we can start with the automation of all the processes in the ports particularly the scanning machines. We need scanning machines very urgently, because that is one thing that will take care of the customs aspect, than slowing down processes”
“We need transparency in the way the terminal operators and the shipping companies operate. We need transparency in what the government agencies are supposed to be doing in the ports”, he argued.
He maintained that the factors causing cargo delays at the ports should be addressed with immediate effect.
“Once a cargo lands in Nigerian port, why is it that it takes more than 24hours to clear that cargo, those people that are making it possible for us to ensure that cargoes are cleared in the port within 24 hours should be addressed immediately”
“Such that when we have any cargo coming into the country, we don’t have to waste time especially in the customs area and that is why we are talking about automation”
The ANLCA image maker fingered categorization as regards imports in the ports as one of the areas that need urgent attention
“We need data in the ports of how the imports are categorized such that we can predict without even having to go into the ports to know the ones those are complaint and those that are not complaint. And if those importers are not ready to comply there we have an issue”
“I would say that the stakeholders particularly the safety agencies are not coming out clean. Customs ought to know that we need the scanners in place in such a way that those scanners can assist them in making sure that cargos are out of the ports at the earliest landing time”, he concluded.
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