FACTS emerging indicate that lack of requisite scanners have for a long time already taken a toll on the clearance of cargo by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, at the various international airports, nationwide.
Investigations show that this is owing to the moribund state of available cargo scanners believed to have been acquired more than 30 years ago, and plagued with successive declining maintenance over the years until the machines packed up.
This is even as investigations further revealed that the Customs has relied on the smaller packages scanning machines owned by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, for its operational checks, said to have caused unnecessary delays for owners of large imported consignments, across airports.
Feelers indicate that at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, the Customs also rely on NARCHO’s private scanners to check air cargo; a situation observers say is capable of breeding official compromise….
