The acting Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi,
Adewale has stated that the new management of the Service is poised to build stronger ties with stakeholders by creating open communication links with them.
The Customs boss stated this during his engagement with stakeholders while on a working visit to Oyo/Osun Customs command in Ibadan on Monday.
Adeniyi revealed that the service is working on reviving the latent National Council for Trade Facilitation (NCTF) and the Customs Consultative Council (CCC) to address issues hampering trade facilitation with a view to nip the problems in the bud.
He stressed the commitment of the new Customs management to forging strong partnership with the stakeholders.
His words: “We have a new Customs management that is committed to forging a strong partnership with you (stakeholders). As we make progress in our engagements we would like to bring you on board and make you a part of us going forward. There are a number of things that have happened since I took over. I looked at the National Council for Trade Facilitation that is supposed to be an anchor for a number of initiatives aimed at increasing trade facilitation in the country and nominally, Customs is the vice chair of this committee domiciled in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments, but over the years we know that not much has been achieved by that committee.
“Now, we want to give this committee a new life. I have had an engagement with them and Customs is going to host the next meeting of this committee. We plan to host all the members of this committee with Customs so that those vital things that we can do as Customs to facilitate trade are the things we are doing moving forward.
“The second issue is the resuscitation of the Customs Consultative Committee (CCC). The CCC is a platform bringing Customs and our stakeholders in the private sector together. This Committee used to exist some fifteen, twenty years ago. I was one of the people that initiated it then. Recently, I have had contact with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and NACCIMA and the vote is unanimous that we have to resuscitate this forum so that on periodic basis or on quarterly basis we can meet, interact and find solutions.”
The Customs boss encouraged the stakeholders to take full advantage of the dispute resolution channel provided in the new Customs Act to resolve dispute that may arise in the course of trade facilitation alongside other offerings.
He also disclosed that the Service is set to operate a full scale Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme in few days having taken the lessons learnt from the test run of the Fast Track 2.0 initiative.
He declared that as the Service works to bring Nigerian importers and the NCS up to speed with best trade facilitation processes around the world, a steering committee and a working group to man the operation of the AEO programme would be launched in a few days.
The AEO programme is the current world standard in customs operation aimed at providing seamless trade facilitation processes for compliant traders with a promise to increase efficiency in Customs Operation and reduce cargo dwell time through the prepayment for duties option and Advanced Ruling option among other benefits. This would also set the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at par with modern customs operations in the world and provide a lee way for trade collaboration with AEO operating nations of the world opening the nation to greater trade opportunities.
According to Adeniyi, the electronic Customs has now been backed by law. So, manifest, declaration, payments now have the backing of the law and part of what they are doing is to launch a full scale Authorised Economic Operator programme which would be built on the fast track 2.0 system which was launched earlier.
He said further that Customs have studied the deficiencies, the missing gaps in the operation of the fast track 2.0 and have made review and corrections on it and are now set to launch the AEO.
“The steering committee has been formed. We are set to launch in the next few days. The working group which would be saddled with the day to day responsibility of running the AEO would also be constituted. We have been assured of cooperation and support from the World Customs Organisation and other international partners who are interested in facilitating trade in Nigeria.”