ANCLA Advocates Autonomy for Nigeria Customs Service

The Tin-Can Chapter of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has advised the Federal Government to grant the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) autonomy for more efficiency.
 The chairman of the association, Mr Kayode Farinto, made the call at a news conference in Lagos yesterday.
“The only way forward to have a decisive, reliable and efficient customs service that conforms to international best practices is to give the service autonomy,’’ he said.

The Tin-Can Chapter of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has advised the Federal Government to grant the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) autonomy for more efficiency.
 The chairman of the association, Mr Kayode Farinto, made the call at a news conference in Lagos yesterday.
“The only way forward to have a decisive, reliable and efficient customs service that conforms to international best practices is to give the service autonomy,’’ he said.
According to him, this will liberate the service from unnecessary bureaucracy and make it more efficient and professional, thus enhancing its productivity.
He said that the NCS should also be thinking of training licensed customs agents to enhance compliance with import regulations.
Farinto said that the service had transformed its operations from analogue to digital, adding that “it is now thinking of e-transaction and e-declaration in its operations”.
He recalled that there were always delays in cargo clearance when the port operations were done manually.
“The era of automation, which is mandatory to all countries that are signatory to most of the treaties, has helped Nigerian government tremendously,’’ he said.
The customs agent said that the current NCS management had complied with the Arusha and Kyoto Conventions by improving on the welfare of every officer.
“The management team has also ensured that officers are trained to keep them abreast of developments in the international trading community concerning duty collections,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Farinto as saying.
The customs agent also commended the service for blocking all loopholes that led to loss of revenue by creating an audit system to inform the service of any anomaly or under-declaration.