Hyacinth Chinweuba
The new Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service
(NCS), Tin Can Island Port, Mr Mba Musa, said he work to realise 48 hour cargo clearance at the port as he has the target is to promote trade facilitation, rake
more revenues and ensure efficient security at the
seaport.
Part of this will be to ensure that the 48 hour target for clearance of goods out of the seaport is achieved, he said.
The Controller who assumed office about a month ago during a breakfast meeting with maritime journalists said that his Command was committed to contributing to the
economic growth and competitiveness through trade facilitation and ease of doing business introduced by the federal government.
Further, he explained that his Command will make customs process and procedures more efficient to enable lower transactional cost for businesses.
According to the controller, this will go a long way in achieving competiveness in economic productivity growths and improvement on the standard of living in the country.
He said, “we are to provide coordinating role in Ease of Doing Business Initiative. As part of Trade Facilitation, we are aware of the 48 hour Cargo Clearance Time. We have therefore deployed the ‘Time Release Studies as performance indicator to
guide our performance”.
The Customs Controller also said the Command will deploy a software to handle the remaining part of the export procedures, adding that this will enable records of none oil export, agriculture and others.
On the issue of conflicts arising from valuation, Musa said the Command has set up a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) which he heads to address all such issues when raised in a space of 6 hours.
Noting that before now, the DRC was meeting twice a week to deliberate on conflicts arising from Valuation, Classification, PAAR etc.
In the same vein, the Controller said he has made new efforts to improve on the time it takes to settle such matters.
He said, “ on assumption and as a pointer to our renewed enthusiasm for trade facilitation, I have directed that all issues arising from disputes must be attended to with dispatch.
In view of this, the DRC have been directed to sit on daily basis for quick Resolution of issues. We have re-engineered our help desk and made it
more responsive and domicile at the PRO office”.
Musa also said the Command shall block all revenue leakages to collect appropriate duties and meet our target of N354billion.
He disclosed that so far, the Command has collected N62b.
He added, “NICIS II is an upgrade of NICIS I with more efficient and functional capabilities to enable Quick Cargo Clearances thereby reducing transaction cost”.
He disclosed that stakeholders and officers were undergoing training for ease of implementation and migration.
The Controller also said the Command was ready to ensure strict security as part of the efforts to fight against terrorism, interception of illicit, dangerous,
unsafe and counterfeit goods.