The Comptroller General of Customs, retired Col. Hammed Ali, has highlighted the importance of having harmonized screening of passengers and their luggage at the nation’s airports to reduce wastage of time and resources. He also said that the nation’s airports need N20 billion worth of equipment for it to meet global standard.
He disclosed this while conducting the minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, round the customs’ facilities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Col Ali said the process of duplicating screening of passengers by the agencies of government at the airports is not the best practice and should be discourage.
He promised to propose a solution to the minister of aviation in order to harmonize such practice, adding that Nigerian airports must reduce bureaucracy in order to attract the traffic it deserved. He said it has been estimated that the nation’s airports require equipment worth N20 billion in order to meet global standard.
He said the customs command will soon meet with the minister to discuss the funding requirement of the customs in detail. He expressed confidence that with the support of the minister, the problem would soon be fixed.
The minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, restated the commitment of the current administration to empower the Nigerian Customs Service to enhance its performance and increase revenue generation.
She also faulted the absence of modern container scanning equipment at the nation’s airports, seaports and land borders, explaining that one of the major means of detecting contraband at the borders was through the deployment of container scanners.
