NCS Positioned to Promote Increased Trade Under AGOA and AfCFTA
Kathy Kyari
With the support of platforms and policies like the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is backed by the US government, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has reaffirmed the agency's commitment to expanding the Nigerian economy through improved trade facilitation tools.
Speaking in Lagos at the Science of Trade (SOT) Conference organized by Ascend Studios Foundation in collaboration with the US Consulate and other organizations.
Comptroller Babatunde Olomu, Customs Area Controller for Apapa Port, represented Adeniyi, who stated that the NCS is in charge of refining trade processes inside the customs zone.
The Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) of the European Union (EU) and Nigeria Customs are working together, according to the CGC, to facilitate commerce and conduct effective export monitoring.
He continued by saying that the service is collaborating with other Nigerian government agencies in order to optimise trade prospects and lower the likelihood of Nigerian goods being returned from countries of destination.
He claims that initiatives like the Time Release Studies, which examine the importation of commodities and the length of time it takes for entrepreneurs to clear their cargo at the port, are designed to improve Nigerian customs efficiency in accordance with international best practices.
According to him, the goal of the exercise is to gather scientific data on the duration and cost of our businessmen's product exports through NCS control in order to identify laws or bureaucratic processes that are causing delays so that compliant traders can get their cargoes off the ports, border stations, and airports on schedule.
He also mentioned regular interaction with diverse stakeholders, ongoing advancements in technology, and ongoing training and retraining of various customs officer cadres as efforts undertaken since taking office.
As a panellist in an interactive session, Comptroller Olomu provided a thorough study of the advantages of trade facilitation found in the NCS Act 2023 as well as the advantages of ease of doing business encapsulated in the new customs legislation.
According to Olomu, the Apapa Port Command is developing a dependable system to process non-intrusive cargo inspections that meet World Customs Organisation (WCO) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) standards.
The CAC also urged participants, who included business owners, diplomats, and other members of the trading community, to stay informed about the provisions of government import and export prohibition lists.
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