Customs, agents in war of words over use of scanners at Apapa port

Following the recent seizure of arms and ammunitions in the country, issues have been raised by stakeholders over the provision and usage of scanners at the nation’s seaports.

While clearing agents stated that the scanners at Apapa Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, are in good working condition but the Service was deliberately refusing to used them, Customs on the other hand claimed that they scan between 30 and 50 containers daily depending on the ability of the terminal operator (APM Terminal) to position for them.

Speaking with Harboursandport.com in Lagos, Nkiru Nwala, the Public Relations Officer of the Command, stated that the claim of abandonment of the scanners is incorrect. She said that only one scanner of the two scanners available is working and the use of the scanner is dependent on how many containers the terminal operator is able to position for the purpose.

In her words “It depends on how many containers the terminal operator is able to drop a day. There are things you need to understand about the mechanisms of the work in the ports.

“For example, now in APMT, Customs wants to scan 100 in a day, but that can only happen based on the number of containers that APMT can drop at the time they want it. Some it is not just a decision that Customs take.”

Speaking on the number of containers the Command scans daily, Nwala said, “It depends on how many containers the terminal operator is able to drop per day. It depends on how many fork-lift that are at work per day. It is not like today it must be this, tomorrow it must be that. It just depends on the number of working fork-lift that they have. If it is not working for that day, they will have to repair as many as they can because they have to also load back the containers.’’

When asked of the number of containers that are scanned daily, the Customs PRO said “Between 30 and 50, Let us assume 50”, she concluded. 

On the same note, the former Chairman of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, Apapa chapter, Tanko Ibrahim, said it is not true that the Apapa Customs are using the scanners because they are not in good working condition.

“The machines are not okay. If they are okay, let them use it now because they (Customs) do the maintenance. They are making money on that side and they do not want people to know that these things are not working. Okay if they are working why are they not using them?” Tanko stated.

When asked during an interview with Harboursandport on the possibility of the Service deliberately not using the scanner because they do not want to use scanners as they prefer 100 percent examination, he said, “I disagree with that. The scanning machine is even better than the 100 percent examination because they do not have equipment to do the examination.

“The question here is that if they do not want to use it, why did they make provision for scanning. We do not need to know why they do not want to use it but they do not want to use it because they are not good. Let them prove that they are good, we will now ask them why they are not using it” Tanko concluded.

Reacting to the claims of Nwala that they are good and that they scan about 50 containers a day, he said “That is a bloody lie.’’

Efforts made by Harboursandport.com to speak with APMT’s Communications Manager, Austin Fischer, proved abortive as he could not be reached on phone neither did he respond to a text message sent to him.