Following series of arms importation into the country through the Lagos ports, the Apapa command of the Nigeria Customs Service appears to be leaving no stone unturned, even as it has decided to jettison the use of scanning machines and result to 100 percent cargo examination.
Public Relations Officer of the Command; Nkiru Nwala confirmed toShipping Position Daily that the Area Controller of the command, Compt Musa Jibrin has instructed that all containers coming out of the ports must be subjected to 100 percent examination. She also said that presently, the scanning machines at the Apapa port are being under-utilized.
“We have resulted into 100 percent examination of containers. Presently, it is almost compulsory for all containers to be examined 100 percent in order to ensure that what the importer declared is contained correctly. We also have weekly management meetings where everybody bring in their reports”
“With the ease of doing business order, a central customs examination centre was created, this also helps to bring about a working interface between customs and other agencies as regards examination, it has made the process faster”
“As at today, even with the scanners that we have, you saw what happened in Tin Can, so we are trying as much, lightning at the port has improved, so if there was need for any physical examination, light would not be a problem. It is no longer news that we have need for more scanners, the government has given their word for that and we believe them”
“But also, APMT is complaining that generally the business is slow, even with the available scanners, it is not as if they are maximally utilized. But these are not serious issues, if business picks up”
She however lamented that clearing agents were not coming forward to carryout operations at night and utilize the facilities that has been provided by the customs and terminal operators.
“We tried to find out from the agents why they don’t come forward to take delivery of their cargoes at night and according to them, the business is slow, we all know that Nigeria is just coming out of recession and generally it affected flow of business, even beyond the bad roads, business is gradually picking up and we are not yet done with cargoes cleared in the afternoon”
“When you have backlog of containers cleared during the day but they are still unable to come out of the port, there is no way you can come back to work at night”
“From the day the ease of doing business was issued, we have roistered our men, it is left for the agents to come forward, APMT is on ground, NPA is also on ground” she said.
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