Seaport activist group, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporters Coalition has threatened to sue the Nigerian Customs Service and Webb Fontaine over issues bothering on alleged server failure.
National Coordinator of the group, Chief Osita Patrick said the server failure has affected the operations of freight forwarders at the cost of about N200bn on a yearly basis.
Webb Fontaine, a leading provider of solutions for Trade Facilitation powered by Artificial Intelligence, has continued to serve as the official technology partner for the Nigerian Customs Service since 2006.
Osita who also doubles as the Chairman Apapa Chapter, International Freight Forwarders Association (IFFA) reiterated that: “We are going to sue Webb Fontaine and Customs next week if they fail to us answer and explain to us without reasonable doubt why we should be having server issues.
“That server failure is disturbing our business. Over 200bn we spend yearly as a mess coming out from Webb Fontaine failure. If a server spoils here, it touches the whole nation and there is no work anywhere.
He added, “If the server spoils, nobody will do work again. If it spoils for three days, that means nothing at all for that three days including shipping operators, companies and the rest of them.
Patrick also tackled the Federal Government for reliance on manual inspection of cargoes.
He said, “Look at what we are having. Scanning, common scanning, the Nigerian government cannot set a standard scanner to read whatever cargo they are bringing out here. People are still doing 100 per cent examination and inspection. That is not what a modern country that wants economic building should be doing. We should have passed this stage by now.”
Recall that the Federal Government has ratified the approval of the President,Muhammadu Buhari for the automation of the Nigeria Customs Service to the tune $3.1bn.
According to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, the project would be financed through Public-Private Partnership under a concessionary period of 20 years.
By Roland Ekama
