Even as the Nigeria Customs Service is currently warming up to take over the destination inspection scheme from the current service providers by June 2013, frontline manpower development academy; Multimix Academy has said that there is need for freight forwarders and their importers to be sensitized on the proposed Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) by the customs.
Even as the Nigeria Customs Service is currently warming up to take over the destination inspection scheme from the current service providers by June 2013, frontline manpower development academy; Multimix Academy has said that there is need for freight forwarders and their importers to be sensitized on the proposed Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) by the customs.
Apart from the newly-developed Ruling Centre and the Nigerian Trade Hub (NTH) the Customs had announced that it is introducing the PAAR as a new clearing document that will replace the Risk Access Report (RAR) which is currently being used by destination inspection service providers.
But in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week, Chief Executive Officer of the Multimix Academy, Dr Obiora Madu said that there is need for stakeholders, especially importers and their agents to be properly equipped and guided as to how these new documents operate.
He also alleged that freight forwarders are the major cause of the bad image that the Nigeria Customs Service is currently having.
According to him, many of the agents are not always interested in documentation and they are more preoccupied with how to get their consignments out of the port by all means.
“These people who clear goods are partly responsible for the bad image Customs is having now, because when someone works with you and he is not interested in documentation, all he wants to know is how much it will cost to get his consignment out of the port”, he stated.
“Some people believe that once you have a license you become a freight forwarder or customs broker, a customs broker is supposed to be an international trade consultant, so it is not just about going to the port and bringing goods out”.
Dr Obiora maintained that this was occasioned by lack of understanding of the technicalities involved in the clearance process, saying that, “beyond the few changes that are coming, there is need for a massive training”.
The capacity building expert also noted that the new PAAR will lead to a change in documentation and so there will be need to explain the change in documentation to people.
“You have to explain to them the new procedure; there will be need for enlightenment, not just for the forwarders, but also for the importers who are the principals in the transaction”, he explained.
He assured of the academy’s readiness to carry out the exercise whenever it is called upon, even as he recalled that the academy had conducted trainings for some of the freight forwarding associations.
“It depends on what the Customs want, we have been running programmes for some of the associations, if our attention is called to be able to reach out with such trainings, yes we are ready, I think there is need indeed for training generally” he maintained.
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