Business
Association Lauds Extension Of Contract On Destination Inspection
The Shippers’ Association of Lagos State has commended the six months extension of the contract with the three firms handling the destination inspection scheme. The General Secretary of the Association, Mr Jonathan Nicol, told The Tide source that the extension would enable the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) to adequately take over the scheme.
According to Nicol, government wants the NCS to be well prepared for the task. “Six months is not too long for the Customs to do their preparations very well.
“It is something that we cherish because there is no point handing over the inspection to Customs now and the whole system will collapse,’’ he said.
President Goodluck Jonathan, recently, approved the extension of the seven-year contract awarded in 2006 to three service providers handling the destination inspection of goods at Nigerian ports and borders. The extension of the contract took effect from Jan.1, 2013.
The contract was signed with SGS Nigeria Ltd., Global Scansystems and Cotecna Destination Inspection Ltd. Nicol advised that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) should also be given the power to control all the ports, adding that most responsibilities of NPA had been taken over by private companies.
“At the moment, I think what we are doing is that we are only testing the ability of private entrepreneurs to see how we can make more money.
`We feel that the NPA should take over the ports as it was doing,” he said.
Nicol also suggested that the Nigerian Air Force should join the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency in policing the nation’s waterways in 2013.
He said that government should direct the Air Force to undertake aerial surveillance of the waterways at least three times a week to check armed robbery and piracy.
Nicol said that NIMASA should also protect fishing companies and their vessels from piracy.