The National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Amiwero has blamed the present state of the scanning equipment at the seaports and the border stations on total neglect by the government agency which supervised the transfer of the scanners to federal government by the service providers to take cognizance of the accommodation of six (6) months maintenance, labor and spare parts provided for in the contractual agreement after the handover.
Amiwero who made this disclosure in a letter he addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and copied to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and four others, stated that the provision if taken into cognizance should have seen almost new equipment transferred to the federal government going by the provision of Articles 4.2 and 4.3, that required any faulty part to be replaced in line with the agreement.
He submitted that the breakdown of scanners necessitated the adoption of 100% physical inspection/Customs examination that was quite laborious in the un-stuffing and loading of goods, which in most cases were destroyed during offloading and re-loading from the containers.
He observed that the development resulted to serious delays with high demurrage, rent, and high security implication for non-application of scanners for the detection of unwholesome goods, arms and ammunitions which according to him contravened of WCO KYOTO convention and WCO SAFE Frame work protocol that mandated contracting member to use Non-intrusive Inspection Scanners as a security and facilitating tool.
He recalled that the acquisition of the Scanners was contracted under the Destination Inspection Scheme between the Federal government of Nigeria and some service providers, namely: Cotecna, SGS and Global Scan on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis, for a period of seven years from 1st of January, 2006 to 31st December, 2012, which was finally extended for one year by the federal government.
“The agreement for the provision, installation, operation and management of X-ray Scanning Equipment and Software for examination of goods between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Cotecna Inspection Limited, Societe general de surveillance (SGS) and Global Scan System Limited as contained in Articles 4 to 4.3 which provides for ownership of equipment during the duration of the contract and the transfer to the federal government as detailed below; (a) 4-Ownership of equipment. (b) 4.1- The location in the appendix 3 and property to remain that of the service provider during the duration of the agreement. (c) 4.2 The transfer at the end of the duration of the agreement to the Federal government, which, includes the Scanners and spare part, shall be absolute and unconditional with residual value of Zero. (d) 4.3 The Equipment transferred at the end of the Duration of the Agreement shall be covered by maintenance agreement providing for spare parts and labor of six (6) months, as confirmed by manufacturer of the Equipment in writing.
“The Articles 4.2 and 4.3 contained in the transfer clause, TRANSFER of the scanners to the Federal Government, which includes spare parts and labor for six (6) months after the expiration of the contract as confirm by the manufacturer of the equipment in writing, which presupposes that all the scanners handed over to Federal government/Customs must be in perfect working condition.
“In line with the provision of the contact in Articles 4.2 and 4.3, the Scanners that are transferred to the Federal government/Nigeria Customs Service must be in perfect working condition, which includes unexpired six (6) Months maintenance with labor and spare parts.
“The present state of the scanning equipment at the port was totally neglected by the government agency who supervised the transfer to take cognizance of the accommodation of six (6) months maintenance, labor and spare parts after the handover, which should have transferred almost a new equipment to the Federal government going by the provision of Articles 4.2 and 4.3, that requires any faulty part to be replaced in line with the agreement”, he said.
He further posited that most of the fixed scanners were commissioned from 2010 to 2012 as follows; Cotecna, which includes two (2) of 9.0MeV Dual Fixed Scanners for Apapa and Tincan, GlobalScan 9.0 Mev Dual View Fixed Scanners and relocatable at Onne ports adding that the fixed scanners fall within 7 to 9 years as at date, which was still operationally acceptable internationally either for upgrade or enhancement.
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