By Stepehen Ubanna
Notwithstanding the efforts being made by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Commands at the Lagos ports of Apapa port, APMT, SIFAX Owned Port and cargo Terminal at Tin Can Island port, and other terminals across the nation’s seaports to collect the appropriate revenue target that had been set for them by the Headquarters, the Area Controllers are no longer finding it funny.
This is because of the delay in the positioning of Containers on Trucks for examination of the cargoes due to insufficient cargo at the ports to serve the purpose. The Value News Investigations shows that the situation is worse at Port and Cargo terminal, where agents were said to have repeatedly said to the hearing of Otunba Taiwo Afolabi, Chairman, SIFAX, that there is dearth of cargo handling equipment at the terminal, thus making it difficult for importers with their agents to take delivery of their cargoes as at when do.
There is no gain saying the fact that SIFX Group, under the clew ach f Taiwo, has invested heavily on off-dock facilities, popular, bounded terminals to facilitate cargo clearing and evacuation at the terminals concessioned to it by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, which currently has Abubakar Dantsoho, as the Managing Director.
Although, most of the Inland Containers are located outside the ports of Apapa, Tin-can Island but Port and cargo operates at the Tin-can Island port, Terminal D, just as APM Terminal operates at the Appapa port, which should have been an added advantage to equip their terminals with cargo equipment to facilitate the clearing of cargoes but the reverse is the case.
An industry operator had confirmed that if the SIFAX, Port and Cargo terminal could be equipped with at least 70% of cargo equipment at the Tin-can Island port, yard occupancy , it would be easy for the importers to take delivery of goods with ease as there would be the need ‘’to stem some of the Containerized cargoes imported through the port to the bounded terminals outside the port in Lagos, the nation’s commercial nerve center and its environs to decongest the port facility.
A senior Customs officer who spoke to The Value News on condition of anonymity at the Tin-can Island port premises, was emphatic that Port and Cargo terminal lack cargo equipment to lift Containers as at and when due.
An informed source had told the Magazine online, that Port and Cargo terminals in different seaports across the country due to a combination of inadequate funding, poor infrastructural facilities, poor innovation in technology, and the NPA and the Federal ministry of marine and blue economy officials’ interference in port operations.
Other challenges that were said to have beset the Port and Cargo terminals over the years include inadequate shipping management skills and expertise, and struggles with adapting to new technologies
Many had expected that if Port and cargo terminal, an indigenous terminal operator facility could be suffering from insufficient cargo equipment, the reverse should be the case for the foreign terminal operators like APMT. Compt. Babatunde Olomu, Area Controller, who oversees the Apapapa Command, described in Customs circles as the Best in Trade Facilitation, ports, Revenue generation, and the biggest terminal operator in the nation’s ports, APMT, coupled with the fact that he was the Best Customs Area Controller, 2024, had sustained the records in the first quarter of 2025, despite insufficient scanning machines and other cargo handling equipment at the terminal.
The Customs Comptroller may have hit the nail on the head, when he declared recently that ‘’lack of scanning machines at the terminals supervised by the Command both within and outside the port, has been hampering the Command’s operations, leading to longer inspection times at the port and potential security breaches’’.
Given the determination of the service under the Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, the Comptroller General, he has given his words to the terminal operators at the port , importers with their agents that the Command has embarked on installing a ‘’high -capacity scanning machines at the shipside of APMT, because of the volume of cargoes that passes through the terminal and other terminals at the port on a daily basis ‘’to enhance cargo inspection efficiency and reduce delays’’.
The Customs Comptroler, had said that move aims ‘’to enable NCS, officials, both within and outside port to detect contraband and hazardous materials without manually opening Containers for physical examination. He had said that the installation of scanning machines, would go a long way ‘’to improve efficiency of cargo examinations and positively impact on the Command monthly revenue generation.
