Customs Officers Incompetent @ Handling Image Analysis

Officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are not fully equipped to operate and maintain very complex equipment like scanners which requires a lot of expertise and discipline, according to Global Scansystems Limited, one of the service providers handling the  destination inspection scheme.

Mr. Fred Udechukwu, managing director/CEO of Global Scansystems Limited, said this while presenting a paper titled "Destination Inspection: Which way after December 2012" at a one day seminar organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) at the International Maritime Press Centre (IMPC) in Apapa, Lagos.

Udechukwu, who was represented by Mr. Ogbogu Kenneth, the company's operations manager, stated that there is "a serious skill gap in the Nigeria Customs Service" hence hindering its ability to take over the scanners at the end of this year when the seven years contract between the Federal Government and the three service providers namely Cotecna, Global Scansystems and SGS will terminate.


"The officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service trained to take over from us are not fully equipped to operate and maintain very complex equipment like the scanners which requires a lot of expertise and discipline. This has serious health implications as uncontrolled x-ray dosages can be emitted into the atmosphere. Also the maintenance of these scanners are programmed and planned to prevent breakdown and its huge financial implications.


"There is a serious skill gap in the Nigeria Customs Service until recently they did not show sufficient interest in the DI scheme and training. This will have to be addressed and adequate training given to them both within and outside the country before we can comfortably hand over to the service", he said.


Udechukwu also said that Form M which is a major transaction document is not yet in electronic form/setting claiming that it will take some time to harmonise the e-form M document in the process.


The Global Scansystems boss also lamented what he called the gross under-utilization of all scanners which he said is below five per cent.

He said that cessation of the DI contract with service providers will lead to job loss disclosing that no fewer than 200 Nigerians currently employed by his company will lose their jobs.

He asked the Federal Government to extend the contract of the service providers for the success of the destination inspection scheme.

 Earlier in his address, Mr. Bolaji Akinola, president, Maritime Reporters' Association of Nigeria (MARAN), said that the seminar was organised by MARAN as part of the association's contribution in engendering healthy debate and discussion on critical issues in the maritime industry.

Akinola said that cargo dwell time at Nigerian ports is the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. He said only a simplification of processes and procedures as well as automation at the ports can drive down the cargo dwell time.

"I must say that cargo dwell time which stands at an average of 24 days at Nigerian ports remain the highest in Sub-Sahara Africa. The implication of high dwell time of cargo is increased cost of doing business at the ports.

"Corruption and bureaucratic bottlenecks are still preponderant in Nigerian ports and are the major reasons for the high cost of doing business at the ports. There is the need therefore to simplify processes associated with cargo clearance. We also need to increase automation of our processes in order to reduce human contacts. Importantly too, there is the need to advise government, using this platform on the option that will work best after 31st December, 2012. We need to come up with a practical option can drive dwell time down to an average of seven days", Akinola stated.

Akinola said before January 2006, the determination of value as well as quantity of imports into the country had been done at the port of origin of the imports by Pre-shipment Inspection Agents (PIAs) namely Swede Control/Intertek, Cotecna and SGS while the Nigeria Customs Service performed 100 per cent physical examination of imports at destination - a perceived duplication of function of the pre-shipment agents.

The MARAN President added that: "The pre-shipment inspection scheme was criticized by various interest groups for several discrepancies which included false declaration, under-declaration and under-valuation of imports in what was described as a scam allegedly master-minded by some of the PIAs and some unscrupulous importers.

The pre-shipment inspection scheme thus became undesirable based on the foregoing which necessitated the re-introduction of destination inspection. To provide facilities and equipment to achieve the destination inspection objectives, three of the former PIAs were contracted by the Federal Government. The three PIAs are Cotecna, SGS and Global Scan.

 The service providers signed separate seven year contracts with the Federal Government to provide mobile and fixed scanners for implementation of the destination inspection scheme on Build-Own-Operate-and-Transfer (BOOT) basis.

The seven-year contracts will end by 31st December this year and port users are curious to know if the Federal Government has mapped out strategies for effective manning, utilization and maintenance of the scanners installed by the three service providers. Or is government making arrangements to retain the services of some of the scanning companies to ensure that DI is not jeopardized?"

The seminar which was chaired by Otunba Kunle Folarin, chairman, Port Consultation Council (PCC),  was attended by several stakeholders and port users including service providers, customs agents, importers, customs and truck operators.