The General Manager, Operations, Global Scansystems Limited, Mr. Hassan Adeogun, said the mobile cargo scanner at the Seme border post had been underutilised since 2006.
Adeogun told newsmen during a facility tour of both the mobile and fixed scanner sites of the company in Lagos on Wednesday that the mobile scanner was capable of scanning 480 trucks daily.
He said that the mobile scanner was installed to act as a stop gap pending the inauguration of the fixed or stationary scanner, which would commence full operations May 31.
He said, “The equipment is on all through but we scan only trucks brought forward for scanning.
The trucks must be listed for scanning and given to us by Customs Service for us to go ahead to scan.”
According to him, since the beginning of May, all trucks that were meant for scanning had been scanned, there was no truck sent to the firm that was not scanned.
Adeogun said the mobile scanner had been on all through, adding that the firm had trained engineers maintaining the scanners.
He said Customs Service had been able to enforce the reduction of the sizes of trucks so that they could pass through the mobile scanners. He also noted that the same situation happened in Calabar where the company’s scanner was under0utilised and was only bale to do one scanning in 2008.
“Scanning is a complementary service and is free. It does not attract any payment,’’ Adeogun said.
He explained that by nature of the border post, anything passing through it must be scanned.
“Physical examination is outdated. If there is anything suspicious inside the truck, you will see it in few minutes by scanning,’’ he said.
He said that the service had been able to train 1,500 Customs officers on Destination Inspection adding that the firm also trained other staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control.
He said in addition to these, 20 customs officers were working with the firm at its sites in Seme.
Adeogun said that the firm was waiting for approval from the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Smiths of France for on-sight acceptance to start emitting x rays.
Former Chairman of the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Mr. Tony Nwabunike, described the mobile scanner at Seme as more sophisticated and newer than those in Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports.
