Stakeholders Urge Government To Watchout for Radioactive Imported Vehicles

Following the natural disaster that struck Japan in March last year, a call has been made by some stakeholders in the maritime industry to the federal government to put steps in place that will check vehicles being imported into the country from radiation.
There are indications that some of the vehicles that were affected in Japan as a result of the Tsunami might find their way into the country which has been described as one of the largest markets for used cars in Africa.

Following the natural disaster that struck Japan in March last year, a call has been made by some stakeholders in the maritime industry to the federal government to put steps in place that will check vehicles being imported into the country from radiation.
There are indications that some of the vehicles that were affected in Japan as a result of the Tsunami might find their way into the country which has been described as one of the largest markets for used cars in Africa.
Japan- manufactured vehicles account for high percentage of used vehicles that are imported from Europe, Asia and USA.
Shipping Position Daily spoke with some stakeholders in the maritime industry on the issue, and a freight forwarder, Mr.Ugbah Jude who clears of vehicles from the seaport said that the government should invite the necessary agencies to come to the RoRo terminals to examine imported vehicles to ascertain if they are free of radioactivity.
Ugbah said that government should be concerned about this as it affects the country and the people in general adding that human lives are at stake.
‘’As for this, government should reposition some of the relevant or concerned agencies to check the imported vehicles that come into the country. For now I cannot recommend any agency to the government to examine imported vehicles, but they should call their attention to it, because we are talking about lives and health.
He said that it is the end users that will suffer from any affected vehicles that leave the ports without proper examination by the relevant agencies, adding that Nigerians are not in the habit to checking vehicles to check whether it is free from radiation and other health related hazards.
‘’It is the statutory duty of the government to take the issue every serious since the country is highly import- dependent”, Ugbah noted.
According to him, auto dealers in the country do not have time to examine the vehicles that they bought from importers in Asia, Europe and America,  but if the issue is well taken care of from the port, it will reduce the number of hazardous vehicles that may come  into the country.
On his part, Mr. Nnamdi Chidozie; an importer said that it is also a means for other manufacturers of vehicle to import from areas that are not prone to hazards of radiation.
 According to him, Nigerians do not believe in radioactive and contamination of products and commodities that are imported into the country, and it is a serious case but government should look into the matter as it is important to the country and human health.