At the wake of call by some stakeholders for extension of concession period for direct inspection (DI) service providers at the nation’s ports, one of them, Societe Generale de Surveillance SA (SGS) Scanning Nigeria Limited, has reiterated its readiness to handover its cargo scanners and related services under the DI scheme to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) by the end of this month in line with the concession contract it entered into with the federal government through the ministry of finance. SGS Scanning Nigeria Limited,having fulfilled its contractual obligations under the DI scheme, is looking forward to a smooth takeover of its DI activities by NCS officers from January 2013.
In 2005, SGS, along with two other service providers was awarded a seven-year contract that commenced in January 2006, to supply cargo scanning machines on a build, operate and transfer basis (BOT) as well as training services and technical support on risk management, valuation and classification.
SGS has delivered on the deployment of cargo scanners and also trained more NCS officers than was stipulated in its contract. In addition, the company, in August this year, concluded the special training of 80 Customs officers tagged ‘DI Transition Team’ at the NCS Ikeja Training School, as part of her winding down activities. Additionally, SGS carried out renovation of some of the NCS training school facilities and provided computers and other equipment.
Furthermore, SGS believes all the NCS officers sent to us for training have been well prepared to take over the DI activities as from January 2013. (Comment: One would hope that the article appended below – Nigerian Customs officials cannot operate scanners – is dated or otherwise inaccurate. It would be grossly unwise for any arm of government to undertake this responsibility unprepared.) The seven-year DI Scheme can be regarded as a transition phase from the former Pre-shipment Inspection Scheme(PIS) to the next phase of NCS development. Therefore, the conclusion of our DI contract on December 31 will be a milestone for NCS.
Having been in Nigeria for more than 50 years, SGS will continue to support the economic transformation efforts of government should the opportunity arise. The company has been in Nigeria since 1957. Source: Leadership (Abuja)
Related articles
- Nigeria Customs – Exiting the era of ‘contracted services’ (mpoverello.com)
- Nigerian Customs officials cannot operate scanners (igbokwenuradio.wordpress.com)
Filed under: Cargo screening, Customs core competency, Customs Inspection, Non-Intrusive Inspection Tagged: Customs, NCS, Nigeria, Pre-shipment inspection, SGS
