The African Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has said that the problem confronting Nigeria’s modernization of cargo examination process obviously has nothing to do with the inability to purchase scanners but everything to do with a poor maintenance culture, lack of transparency and accountability.
The President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite who made this submission in Abuja on Monday during a public hearing on purchase of cargo scanners by the House of Representatives Committee on Customs noted that the purchase of new scanners without any attempt on the part of the government to reach out to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the old scanners in order to ascertain if they could be salvaged proved this.
According to Ogunojemite, purchasing a new set of scanners was not the solution as the problems would most likely repeat itself if no individual or agency was held responsible for their maintenance.
He maintained that to ensure the efficiency of cargo examination and improve competitiveness, nothing prevents the government from engaging the Original Equipment Manufacturers to repair the previous scanners and put them back into use alongside new ones that may be acquired.
“As the NCS has proved itself incapable of handling something as sensitive as the operation and maintenance of multi-million scanners, in order to avoid a repeat of history, it is advisable that the scanners are best left in the hands of contracted DI (Destinations Inspection) agents who will operate and maintain it.
“In a country notorious for sabotaging well-meaning efforts geared towards national development, one must not rule out the possibility of sabotage from within the government agencies. This is because physical examination of cargo provides an avenue for officials of the government to extort importers and customs agents for money and other valuable items in their containers”, he said.
While noting that there were clear possibilities of deliberate sabotage on the part of the Nigeria Custom Service and other players who have aligned with them to ensure that the system fail for their selfish reasons, from the facts on ground, he queried, “What is the rationale behind the contract termination of the manufacturer (OEM) technicians when it was obvious that the Nigeria Customs Service does not have the capacity to maintain the scanners?”
“Upon what basis did Nigeria custom claimed to have employed other foreign technicians for the maintenance after the manufacturer technicians were sacked? The question that could come to the mind of every right thinking persons is: upon failure to get the machine fixed by the foreign technicians claimed to have been employed for maintenance of the scanners, what stopped the Nigerian Custom from calling back the manufacturers’ (OEM) technicians to continue where they stopped?”, he further queried.
On the performance and evaluation of the service providers; the Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited (CDIL), SGS Nigeria Limited and Global Scan Limited, the APFFLON President insisted that, “it is on record that the service providers handed over fully functional scanners to the customs and the scanners were all upgraded to the most current system and certified to be in good condition in accordance with their contract with the Nigerian Government.”
He recalled that it was agreed that the foreign players would transfer technical know-how to Nigeria Custom Service adding that the terms also covered maintenance of the infrastructure (scanner) in the designated ports.
“Thirdly, since it was a six (6) year contract, it was agreed that at the seventh (7) years, that Nigeria Customs Service will take over the scanners handling, management and maintenance. Moreover, by the end of 2013, the transition process was completed and the service providers handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service.
“Unfortunately, this giant leap in modernizing the Nigeria Customs Services did not last very long. A year after the handover, the scanners stopped functioning the Nigerian ports and borders were once again returned to the analog era of 100% physical examination. The formerly efficient cargo clearing process was now bogged down by prolonged delays and accumulated rent and demurrage on importer/freight forwarders. Industry stakeholders frustrated by the setback, accused the NCS of sabotaging the system by mishandling the scanners; the allegation was quickly rebutted by the customs.
“Then Public Relations Officer of Apapa Customs, Emmanuel Ekpa, claimed that the Customs had made initial effort to fix the scanners immediately they stopped functioning. When they were unsuccessful, they went a step further to bring in experts from outside the country who were also unable to fix the scanners.
“The claim was quickly dismissed by Musa Umar, a former employee of the CDIL (Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited), who insisted that CDIL and other inspection agents had handed over fully functional scanners to the Customs. He said the scanners were new, having been purchased in 2010 and handed over in 2013. Umar said, ‘All the scanners were upgraded to the most current system and certified to be in good condition before the handing over; it was part of the contract stipulation. That was the only way the inspection agents could receive a certificate of delivery; nobody can say we handed over obsolete scanners. The Nigerian government is sorely lacking in the area of maintenance culture; you can’t get good result when you have a poor maintenance culture. This is what has affected infrastructural development generally in Nigeria.’
“Another source reportedly claimed that while the scanners were still being managed by the Destination Inspection (DI) agents, they were being periodically maintained by the manufacturer of the machines. The DI agents got the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to bring its technicians for the maintenance until the NCS said they were unable to sustain the contract thereby resulting in the termination of the manufacturer’s technicians who were brought for the purpose of maintenance of the scanners”, he stated.
Photo: APFFLON President, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite.
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