The Freight Forwarding Trade Group has said that the extension of the contract of the three service providers under the Destination Inspection (DI) scheme was a welcome development. The Nigeria Customs Service was to take over Destination Inspection from the service providers from Jan. 1, 2013, but the government later announced six months extension of the contract.
The Freight Forwarding Trade Group has said that the extension of the contract of the three service providers under the Destination Inspection (DI) scheme was a welcome development. The Nigeria Customs Service was to take over Destination Inspection from the service providers from Jan. 1, 2013, but the government later announced six months extension of the contract.
In 2005, the three service providers namely Cotecna Destination Inspection Ltd., Societe Generale de Surveillance, and Global Scansystems Ltd., were awarded a seven-year contract which commenced on Jan. 2006.
The services providers were also to supply cargo scanning machines on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis as well as train Nigeria Customs officers on risk management, valuation and classification.
Speaking with newsmen, Mrs Julie Ogboru, the Chairman of the Trade Group, said that “the extension will help the customs officers to put their acts together’’. She advised the Comptroller General of Customs to ensure that those who were trained to take over from the service providers should not be transferred from the ports.
According to her, “the problem with the customs is that they are always on transfer and they are not there to practice what they have been taught,’’ Ogboru said. Ogboru said that for the customs to achieve 48- hour cargo clearance, it must put its acts together and endeavour to put the right officers in the right positions.
“We want the 48 hours to be realistic; we don’t want delays and this cannot be achieved in half measures,’’ she said. Ogboru also suggested 24-hour operations at the ports, saying that the shift system would reduce congestion and increase the daily productivity. “It seems that the service providers were able to cope because their workers are always there 24 hours and they are not transferred frequently,’’ she said.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Prince Olayiwola Shittu, had said that it was a government policy.
He had stated that: “If it felt that an extension would help the customs to be better on the job, so be it. “We cannot grumble too much as far as it is to help the customs officers. Shittu, however, frowned at government’s decision to pay one per cent of the FOB value to the service providers who produced the Risk Assessment Report (RAR). “RAR adds no value to the clearing process. RAR is not a compulsory document”.
According to him, the country cannot continue to be losing money to the service providers.
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