By Godfrey Bivbere

A GROUP of Customs Agents have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the nation’s import and export regulations, warning that unless urgent steps are taken to address an issue affecting it; the nation’s port operations will remain the costliest in the sub-region.

Cargo scanners

The group under the aegis of National Council of Managing Director of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, in a petition signed by its president, Lucky Amewiro, noted that the lengthy and cumbersome clearing procedures which cause unnecessary delays, high transaction cost and increase of cargo dwell time, will continue to affect the country’s port.

He also bemoaned the broken down scanners at the ports which have resulted in 100 per cent physical inspection/Customs examination, stressing that this was quite laborious in the run-stuffing and loading of goods causing damages to consignments. These, according to him, lead to cargo delays with high demurrage, rent and high-security threat.

The petition read in part, “The acquisition of the scanners was contracted under the Destination Inspection Scheme between the Federal government of Nigeria and some service providers, namely: Cotecna SGS and Global Scan on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer, BOOT, Basis, for a period of seven years from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2012, which was finally extended for one year by the Federal government.

FAAC disbursed N257.76bn to FG in April – NBS

“The Articles 4.2 and 4.3 contained in the transfer clause, transfer of the scanners to the Federal Government, which includes spare parts and labour for six months after the expiration of the contract as confirmed by the manufacturer of the equipment in writing, which presupposes that all the scanners handed over to Federal government/Customs must be in perfect working condition.

“Most of the fixed scanners were commissioned from 2010 to 2012, Cotecna Destination Inspection, CDI, which two 9.0 MeV dual fixed scanners for Apapa and Tincan, GlobalScan 9.0 Mev Dual view fixed scanners which is relocatable at Onne ports. The fixed scanners fall within seven to nine years as at date, which is still operationally acceptable internationally either for an upgrade, enhancement.

Stakeholders place cost of Apapa traffic at trillions of Naira

“The report of Smith detection contained the acceptance procedure which specifies the vital refurbishments necessary to return the system to an “as” delivered state or include new technology as detailed below:

“UPGRADE: – these improvements will help fight obsolescence by replacing out- of –date items and systems.

“ENHANCEMENT: – These optional additions, can add innovation new features to the existing scanning technology,” the petition stated.