ANLCA Carpets Customs Over Delay In Scanner Installation

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has expressed disappointment over the delay in the installation of the newly procured scanners by the Nigeria Customs Service.
ANLCA regretted that Nigeria’s maritime sector is the only country in the world where cargoes are subjected to manual examinations.
National President of ANLCA ,Chief Tony IjuNwabunike, who made this remark during a Port Industry Town Hall Meeting put together by “The JournalNg”, lamented that the expectations of port concession had not been adequately met.
According to him, smaller neighbouring countries have developed their ports, mainly for cargoes to be consumed by Nigerians, pointing out that the seaports are running without dependable port procedures and having no roads to terminals in Lagos, Onne and others.
Nwabunike who was the pioneer Chairman, Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), described the nation’s seaports as the worst in world. 
He said, “As a way of helping the government, who seems helpless in the face of obvious non compliance across board, private sector groups in the port have established compliance teams and this points to our collective inadequacy”.
Speaking on the deplorable road condition, Nwabunike who chaired the Town Hall Meeting, called on the Federal Government to declare a national emergency in the maritime industry whereby dry season construction work would be done 24 hours nonstop, especially on the Apapa- Oshodi axis.
The ANLCA President insisted that “We (Nigeria) are nowhere near our peers to maximize the benefits of our port system for this single African trade regime. 
“The earlier we act fast, the better because under the regime, countries will see themselves as rivals and competitors in certain economic fronts. Nigeria must not be caught sleeping.
“Nigeria is the only country I know in the world where cargoes are subjected to joint manual and very cumbersome examination process and as an importer or customs broker, you are subjected to multiple alerts by different customs units.
“I don’t want to say our port system is about the worst in the maritime world. Sadly, that is what it is looking like in terms of shipping companies and customs operations”.
But in a swift reaction to Nwabunike’s claims, Comptroller, Tin Can Island Port Command, Nigeria Customs Service, Mba Musa, explained that the reason for the delay in installing the scanners was because they were subjected to assessment test.
Comptroller Musa, represented by Deputy Comptroller, KikelomoAdeola, assured that the scanners would commence operations as soon as the assessment test is concluded.
Earlier, Publisher of the JournalNg, Mallam Ismail Aniemu, noted that the Town Hall Meeting was aimed at addressing challenges confronting the maritime industry.