Indication has emerged that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is not in a hurry to replace the faulty scanning machines at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.
The scanners packed up about three months ago.
Since the scanners got became faulty, the Tin Can port command of the Customs has resulted to physical examination of all containers.
Importers and customs agents have however lamented that the development has led to delays in the cargo clearance process, and it has added to the cost of clearing of goods at the port.
Indication has emerged that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is not in a hurry to replace the faulty scanning machines at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.
The scanners packed up about three months ago.
Since the scanners got became faulty, the Tin Can port command of the Customs has resulted to physical examination of all containers.
Importers and customs agents have however lamented that the development has led to delays in the cargo clearance process, and it has added to the cost of clearing of goods at the port.
Confirming the predicament to Shipping Position Daily last week, image maker of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Wale Adeniyi? said that many of the scanners at the ports, especially at the Tin Can Island Command are bad and not-serviceable.
Adeniyi however did not give any hope of customs getting another scanner anytime soon, though he confirmed that the customs have made a request for a new scanner to the appropriate authorities.
He recalled that when the service took over the destination inspection duties from the service providers namely; Global Scan Services Limited, SGS scanning, and Cotecna, the Nigeria Customs Service had raised an alarm that all the scanners were epileptic.
Speaking futher, he said "We have some issues with some of the scanners, particularly in Tin Can, the one at the other ports are working, but the one at Tin Can has serious issues"
"Recall that before we took over, we told the nation that the scanners we have taken over, some of them are in bad shape, either because of old age or because of poor maintenance by the? service providers"
"We undertook an audit which revealed that some of them are old and are not serviceable. We also requested the manufacturers themselves to carry out another? audit and they did, their findings agreed with ours that those scanners had issues"
"We are have made presentations about it to the appropriate authorities and we are expecting their response" Adeniyi confirmed.
The customs image maker debunked insinuations that every cargo imported through the Tin Can Island Customs Command is subjected to hundred percent examination.
According to him, it is not every cargo that comes to Tin Can that are selected for scanning?, it is only those that are selected for scanning that customs usually carry out 100% examination for.
Dismissing hopes of a hurried replacement of the scanning machine at Tin Can port, Adeniyi said? "the scanner is not something that? you just go to the counters and pick, it takes time, you have to think about specification and deployment, it involves a very serious logistics".
Meanwhile, in a chat with Shipping Position Daily, a member of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs? Agents (ANLCA) at the Tin Can Island port, Mr. Ojo Akintoye lamented that the absence of scanning machines at Tin Can port has had negative effects on port operations.
He said that all the containers that are supposed to go for scanning are being brought for physical examination. He added that this is equally causing a lot of delays, because the total number of containers that are supposed to go for physical examination has increased
"If you get to the terminals now and see that a lot of containers are dropped there, they are both scanning and physical jobs."
He said that the situation has led to extra expenses for the clearing agents because the labour that? usually brings out the cargoes from the containers are paid by the agents.
"If it is scanning, if there is no suspicion, it does not require any physical strength, the machine will scan it, but the moment you bring it to physical examination, you will not say the scanning is not working and you allow the container to exit, it has to be 100 percent examination"
"There is no reason for us not to have scanners at Tin Can Port; Customs cannot tell us that it was because they don't have money that the scanners are not working"
"If the people that they concessioned the maintenance of the scanning machines to are not effective, they should do something about it"
"By now, since they have taken over, customs should have thought of making provisions for an alternative and make sure they provide new machines."? Akintoye said.
The customs agent lamented that situation has never been this bad, even when the contract was in the hands of the inspection agents?.
"The painful aspect is that when we had it tough with scanning back then, if we apply to customs for physical examination they will not agree, they don't allow jobs to be rerouted to physical scanning" he said.
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