The House of Representatives’ Committee on Customs and Excise has commended Global Scansystems Ltd. and Cotecna Destination Inspection Ltd. for providing adequate infrastructure at the ports.
The committee’s Chairman, Rep. Sabo Nakudu, gave the commendation on Monday during an oversight function visit to the sites of the two service providers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two companies have their offices at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and the Lagos ports.
He said Cotecna and Global Scansystems had also done well in training Customs officers in preparedness to take over the Destination Inspection Scheme.
NAN reports that this was based on the recent extension of the destination inspection contract of the service providers by six months with effect from Jan. 1 2013.
The visit had enabled the committee to conduct an on-ground inspection of all the facilities provided by both service providers.
“I am satisfied with what I saw at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and the Ports and Terminals Multi-Services Ltd. manned by Global Scansystems Ltd.
“I am also happy with the facilities Cotecna have put in place at the scanning points at both the Apapa port and the Tin-Can Island ports,’’ Nakudu said.
The lawmaker, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of Webb Fontaine, an information management firm at the Customs Processing Centres at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and the Lagos ports.
“I am disappointed with the inadequate number of computers, printers and the low level of investment by Webb Fontaine at the centres,’’ he said.
Nakudu said the investment by Webb Fontaine, which he estimated at not more than two million Naira, did not match what it had been receiving from government.
“The firm has been receiving about four to five million U.S dollars from government,” he said.
The lawmaker said that in another six months officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) should be able to take over the job of the service providers.
Nakudu urged the management of NCS to always retain officers on the job so that the service could effectively take over the scheme.
Mr Fred Udechukwu, Managing Director of Global Scansystems Ltd., said he was happy with the committee members’ visit.
He said that in spite of the `impromptu’ nature of the visit, the company was always ready to conduct people round its facilities.
According to him, the officers still needed more technical training and exposure both locally and internationally to be able to handle the facilities put in place.
“The scanners were installed in 2006 and ever since, we have not recorded any downtime. We have maintained and stocked spare parts for all our scanners.
“We have always said we are ready for collaboration with the Federal Government and the NCS to ensure that the laudable project of Destination Inspection is executed and handed over ultimately to the Customs.
“Most of the Customs officers trained by us in all our locations had won the Comptroller-General of Customs’ award as the Best Scanning Officers,’’ Udechukwu said.
NAN reports that there were, however, complaints by Customs officers at the Tin-Can Island scanning sites of Cotecna that there was no power supply at all.
The complainants said this had placed the port users on generators for 24 hours, while some Customs officers also complained about internet failure.