Even as freight forwarders and other stakeholders have continued to condemn the delay associated with the Customs Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), a necessity in the procedures for clearing of consignments from the nation's seaports, the Nigerian Chambers of Shipping (NCS) has described the Nigeria Customs Service initiative as anti-local content, saying that PAAR is a total failure.
Even as freight forwarders and other stakeholders have continued to condemn the delay associated with the Customs Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), a necessity in the procedures for clearing of consignments from the nation's seaports, the Nigerian Chambers of Shipping (NCS) has described the Nigeria Customs Service initiative as anti-local content, saying that PAAR is a total failure.
The Chamber's Director General; Mrs. Ify Akerele gave the verdict when she fielded questions from journalists under the auspices of Maritime Reporters Correspondent of Nigeria (MARCON) in Lagos on Wednesday, where she also urged the Customs to abolish the system, so as to bring about smooth clearance of cargoes from the seaports.
The Director General reiterated that the service providers were more competent in the handling destination inspection of imports, but she submitted that the Nigeria Customs Service was just overzealous to takeover the scheme.
Akerele noted that the service providers were more reliable and more competence than the customs, even though the latter had said that PAAR will be bring about efficiency in clearing of goods.
She explained that there is the need for government to reverse the policy that is connected with PAAR because according to her, PAAR has not been effective.
She also told the journalists that the Customs does not have the technological know-how to handle PAAR, which she believed has been the reason behind the bottleneck faced by importers and licensed customs agents at the ports.
"I am only being realistic about the situation on ground, because PAAR cannot work except you put the experts on ground to run it", Akerele maintained.
Speaking further the D.G stressed that the there is need to put in place the right operators to manage the situation faced by freight forwarders noting that customs duty on imported goods in Nigeria is high compared to other countries of the world.
She however lauded the effort of neighbouring countries which reduced the tariff on imported rice, even as she lampooned policy makers in Nigeria for increasing levy on the staple food item.
"I feel sorry for the government because they have a very good intention to discourage importation of rice, but as they were making that law, the importers and officials that oversee it find an alternative and I don't also blame our neighbouring countries who reduce their import tariff because we gave them a bonanza and they are having a good time with it".
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