Nigerian Customs says it has cut down considerably inspection hours of imported items and papers processing at seaports and airports to ease business operations.
This was confirmed by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) at a three-day first Extra-ordinary Meeting of African Union Sub-committee of Directors-General of Customs in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal capital. The meeting was to bring the African Union (AU) Customs Administration together to articulate a common agenda within the continent and speak in unison during the World Customs Organisation (WCO) annual meeting in July 2017.
The Customs boss also disclosed that the conference would deliberate on the impact of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) adopted by WCO this year to enable African countries ratify it.
All was happy to announce to the conference that Nigeria Customs has attained 75 per cent automation level in its entire operations.
He said, “If you have been following the trend of Ease of Doing Business initiated by the Vice President, the Customs is key to that. We have reduced the hours of inspection and physical examination; we have also reduced paper processing from 17 to 10”.
While declaring the meeting opened, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, expressed concerns over illicit financial flows. She charged the participants to deliberate towards boosting border security to improve revenue collection, and enhance trade facilitation.
Secretary General of WCO, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya lauded the initiators of the meeting and lauded Nigeria’s effort at border security noting that improved trade facilitation is only achievable with enhanced security at the borders.
