The National Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Prince Segun Oduntan has tasked the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA on deployment of technology to drive port operations in Nigeria.
Oduntan who made this call in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos on Monday, said although the Authority had made some level of progress in automating some of its activities, he wanted to see more improvement from NPA in relation to access to the ports.
He noted that the with efficient scanning system in place, containers would be scanned as they were being discharged from the vessels so as to minimize the human contact and save time.
He also argued that with proper regulations and deployment of the right technology, trucks were not supposed to be seen along the port access road as they would only be ushered into the port through a well coordinated and efficient call up system when it’s time for them to go for loading at the the port.
According to him, while the trucks must access the ports unaccompanied, all that the drivers needed to gain entry into the port was their biometrics, having been given direction to the cargo position inside the port through their cell phone.
He also pleaded with NPA to come up with schedules to properly guide the truckers as well as other stakeholders to know when they are to load, when they are to bring back empty containers as well as when they are to bring export cargo to the port while insisting that these could be properly done and seamlessly coordinated through the use of technology.
Drawing reference to Tema port in Ghana, he said, “The access to Tema port is not as wide as we have it here in Nigeria but you will never see one trailer on the road. There’s time to go in for loading, unaccompanied. You must make sure that your truck is very okay because if it breaks down along that axis, you will regret it because of the fine that you are going to pay. So, nobody tells you to make your truck roadworthy. Although it’s mechanical but that has been understood. There’s a standard rule of thumb.
“So, there’s a time to go into the port to load and when you get to the port, your biometrics as a driver gains you entry. Where you are going to load, you have been given direction on your phone. You get there, they load you, you go out There’s a time the export containers go in.
“So, the NPA Traffic Department should introduce a lot of transformations, put in more technology, even if it means bringing in another private firm to drive this initiative, why not! I want to see improvement in that aspect so that the turn around time for vessels will improve.
“I was in Canada sometimes back. It’s a shame that I saw the way they package yam because the warehouse belongs to my friend, I have to ask him questions and he told me. The yams we were seeing were coming in from Ghana and let me blow your mind, those yams, all of them were not from Ghana because the Ghanaians cannot meet such demands, some of them were even coming from Nigeria. You know why they will not go from here? Because of the process of export, it will get spoiled.
“Ghana preservation is excellent and they don’t disturb. So, I looked at it, I want improvement in that area so that the accessibility to the port could be seamless not all this human contact that traffic has to stay on the road, you have to take control. If you have to put technology in place, why not! It will be seamless.
“You go to Ghana port, you don’t see officers around. The container that brings in, maybe 8,000 buckets TEU, you only see maybe three or five infractions there. I am proud when I go to Ghana and sit down with my friends in their offices and you see them work and you will never know they are working.
“I know it’s improving here too but I want to see improvement in that area in Nigeria too.”
Photo: Prince Segun Oduntan, National Vice President, ANLCA.
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