Following signs that the installed scanners are currently underutilized, there appear to be additional obstacles in decongesting Nigeria’s seaports in Lagos.
The low turnover has been attributed by NCS, Apapa Area 1 Command, and agents working at a port in Apapa to the terminals’ inability to place containers for scanning.
They made this known when a delegation from the Port Standing Task delegation, PSTT, led by its National Coordinator, Moses Fadipe, visited the ports in response to concerns about the scanners’ underuse, they made this known.
The Customs Officer-in-Charge of the Terminal, Deputy Comptroller Isa Aliyu, claimed that the Service has the capacity to scan between 200 to 300 containers each day but that they are not being positioned in a timely manner for scanning when speaking at the meeting of the stakeholders.
A representative of the scanning unit who supported Aliyu’s assertion on the scanning capability, Ali Ibrahim, stated that the scanning team and facility are prepared if the containers are positioned on time.
Ibrahim clarified that because the containers are not set up for scanning, the cops work Mondays through Fridays and sporadically on Saturdays.
Additionally, he lamented the fact that on some days there are no containers for scanning, thus Customs employees are left with nothing to do but sit about.
He claimed that on certain days, the image analysts would simply wait for the next container to be positioned for up to two hours.
Additionally, he expressed dissatisfaction that the placement for physical examination was not improved because importers still had to pay additional fees and demurrage for delays that were not their fault.
Fadipe claimed that whereas the number of scanned containers at the port in 2021 was approximately 125 when PSTT intervened, the figure increased to approximately 195, to the delight of all parties.
He added that any agency or person that creates delays that result in additional fees should be held accountable in accordance with the Nigeria Port Process Manual, or NPPM, which the PSTT is authorized to enforce.
He pointed out that the team has been getting a lot of complaints about delays from the operators of container terminals, particularly the APM Terminal, which is costing stakeholders more money.
One scanner, according to the Terminal Manager of APMT, Kayode Daniel, is insufficient to scan the number of containers that travel through Apapa port.
He added that the scanner was shut down twice a month for maintenance and emphasized that Customs is also closed on Saturdays.
The scanner scans each container in roughly five minutes, he added.
