Onne Customs Receives Trade Facilitation Scanner

The Nigeria Customs Service, Area ll Command, Onne Port, has taken delivery of a cargo scanning machine from the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd).

From the left:
DC OJA Garuba – Deputy Comptroller Incharge of Enforcement unit; Comptroller AB Mohammed, the Customs Area Controller, Area II Command Onne Port;
DSC IO Ojekwu – the Command Public Relations Officer

The Command’s Area Controller, Comptroller Auwal Mohammed, made this known on Friday in a statement by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Ifeoma Onuigbo Ojekwu, in Port Harcourt.
According to Mohammed, the arrival of the scanner marks a positive milestone in the service efforts to modernise Customs operations.
He also stated that the scanner would also achieve ease of doing business, facilitate trade and enhance security with easier detection of prohibited imports.
Mohammed said the tortuous processes involved in physical examination which was time consuming would be minimised and more perfect when done with the scanner.
According to him, before the arrival of the scanner, the command was not able to examine more than a hundred containers daily, but with the new scanner, it would examine no fewer than 200 containers daily.
Mohammed also said when he received the scanner that before its arrival, examinations of cargoes were usually done manually and physically, whereby containers were positioned by the terminal operators.
He said: “Then they provide gang of labourers while officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies come for the examination.
“They cut off the seal manually, and then the contents inside containers are discharged manually by the labourers. Then, inspection or examinations are conducted by officers and other stakeholders.
”This takes time sometimes because of the packing of the good in the container; and this is an examination that is done to confirm the declaration made by the agent or importer tallies with the content of the container.
“Virtually everything has to be carried or moved out of the container, then back into the container before examination is concluded.
“So it is cumbersome. It is time consuming, and not much containers are properly examined on a daily basis.
“So with the coming of the scanner, which is a non-intrusive examination apparatus, examination will now be conducted with the use of x-ray.”
The Controller added that already trained Customs officers on scanning operation would undergo refresher training to update them on the latest technology.
According to him, any consignment found during image analysis to be containing suspected prohibition or concealments will be quickly referred for physical examination.
He also thanked the CGC for his unrelenting drive in modernising the Nigeria Customs Service.
The scanner, a product of Nuctech, was brought by Maersk Karun vessel from Shanghai China with model number MT1213DE.