By Joshua Yousouph
The National Coordinator, 100 percent Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim has raised concerns over irregularities in the new cargo scanning process since the deployment of scanners at the Lagos ports.
Recall that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) deployed scanners at selected ports and borders across the country in 2021 to enforce the Federal Government’s ease of doing business policy and reduce the huge cost of doing business at the nation’s ports.
However, a long wait, the NCS has officially commenced the use of scanners for cargo examination at the Apapa ports in Lagos. Disclosing this on Wednesday, the spokesman of the Apapa Customs Command, Abubakar Usman explained that the scanners had actually been operational for almost a month now, but the Command had decided not to issue any statement on the development until further notice.
But, in an exclusive chat with Shipping Position Daily on Wednesday, Alhaji Tanko noted that the deployment and utilization of scanners at the ports is a welcome development, adding that it would help to tackle the level of insecurity in the country and promote revenue generation for the Federal government.
Tanko however alleged that terminal operators are not ready to embrace the new development, adding that they have decided to frustrate cargo scanning process at the ports as an avenue to extort importers by delaying their containers after being scanned in order to collect demurrages and additional charges.
The NAGAFF Compliance Team National Coordinator explained that it takes about two weeks before a container is scanned and when suspected to be laden with contraband materials, importers will have to pay charges for examination which can take additional two weeks. He also alleged that once the containers are scanned, they are returned to block-stack in order to collect additional charges for demurrages.
Tanko however informed that the team has decided to spearhead a protest and strike action which is set to begin on Monday 24th October, 2022 to draw the attention of the public and government to the anomalies associated with cargo scanning at the ports.
He called on all relevant government agencies to look into the issues faced by importers and clearing agents at the port and with swift actions proffer lasting solution to the cargo scanning issues at the Lagos ports.
In his words: “Scanning is a welcome development, this is what you have been waiting for a long time ago. Thank God the Office of the Security Adviser to the President has come up with this issue of scanners because of the security situation in the country. It is a welcome development. It is not only on issues of security, but also issues of revenue generation. It will help revenue generation, insecurity and also the issue of drugs. Give me a reason why a good Nigerian will not support scanning? Some people are there trying to do everything possible to make sure that they frustrate the scanning process not to work”.
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Speaking further, he said: “a good example are the terminal operators. APMT terminals are doing everything possible to frustrate this scanning. First, they were all in the meeting when they were asked if they have the capacity to handle the scanners and they said Yes. They were asked how many containers they could scan in a day and they said 800 containers. But as I speak, they cannot scan 50 containers in a day and they said they have the capacity. However, they are not putting us in a bad position.
“When you book for scanning, you pay. If the scanning is suspected, you will still book for examination. That is money and it will take you two to three weeks before they bring down the container from block-stack. Why must they put the container they scan on block-stack again? They should have put the container aside as they await the results of the scanning immediately or let’s say a day after due to the Nigerian way of doing things.
“We are paying demurrages. I personally have 10 containers at the port and for the past three weeks I have not been able to clear or carry any. To scan takes about two weeks, to position a container for examination takes another two weeks. That means they’re not ready.
“What we are saying is that the Federal Government should come to our rescue. We cannot continue this way. We are spending huge amount of money who is going to be refund this money to us. That is why we embarking on a strike by Monday. We want every Nigerian to come and see what is happening at the ports” Tanko concluded.
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