Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) operating at the Tin Can Island Port Complex have been accused of obstructing free flow of traffic on the common user access road leading to Terminal ‘C’ of the port.
Managing Director of Port & Cargo Handling Services, Mr. John Jenkins at a media parley in Lagos penultimate Friday, said that the littering of the terminal user access road with stacked containers and seized goods is not only hindering effective operation but has created an impression that the terminal is heavily congested.
He said as a result of the bottleneck, entrance to the terminal has become a nightmare.
“Another serious challenge to our operations is the obstruction of our own portion of the common user road by the Nigeria Customs Service. Containers, trucks and other cargoes that are seized by Customs from other terminals are always kept on the access road leading into the terminal. As a result of this, our portion of the common access road is always reduced to a single lane,” Jenkins stated.
While calling on the NCS management to channel seized consignments to the appropriate warehouse, Jenkins maintains that a permanent solution to the challenge needs to be found as according to him, it has reduce efficiency at the terminal.
Ïf you want us to treat you well start cleaning up your own house. What we can do is to work together and improve on our collective well being.
“We are not dealing with you as individuals but as an agency. We know some agencies have ten to twenty staff, but we have just started this journey and we must embrace it gradually and that is the appeal we made to the executives”, he said.
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