The Nigeria Customs Service has said that it was unable to meet its revenue target for last year as a result of the numerous concessions and waivers that were granted to some importers.
It has also assured that it is possible to release cargoes to owners within six hours, with the aid of the new technology that has been installed, which is called the Nigerian Trade Hub. The service said that it is now ready to take over the Destination Inspection scheme from the current service providers by June 2013.
The Nigeria Customs Service has said that it was unable to meet its revenue target for last year as a result of the numerous concessions and waivers that were granted to some importers.
It has also assured that it is possible to release cargoes to owners within six hours, with the aid of the new technology that has been installed, which is called the Nigerian Trade Hub. The service said that it is now ready to take over the Destination Inspection scheme from the current service providers by June 2013.
Comptroller General of customs, Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi gave the assurance last week at the Customs headquarters where he was visited by members of Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria, whom he told that a large number of cargoes are currently being subjected to 100 percent examination at the port as a result of the insecurity in the country.
Assistant Comptroller General of Customs; Abubakar Makarfi who represented the Customs boss assured that the fiscal policy of 2013 will aid the service in achieving its target in 2013.
"Concessions and waivers have contributed to the loss of revenue, billions of Naira are being lost, but this year with the new fiscal policy, we are going to make it" he assured.
The service only collected a total of N850Billion last year, even though it was given a target of N872 Billion by the Government, but the Customs management imposed an additional N328 billion on itself, raising the target to N1.2 Trillion. It ahs however set another ambitious target of N1.4 trillion target for itself in 2013.
The customs top man said that with the recent ICT development and the much talked about; Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) which the custom intends to put into use by June this year, cargoes can now be cleared from the port within six hours and without necessarily having contact with customs.
Makarfi also bragged that once the necessary information is submitted through the new custom portal online, PAAR will be issued within six hours.
"If we go with the system we are operating now, we intend under six hours to release cargo"
He lamented that customs has always taken the fall for every difficulty experienced in the course of clearing goods at the port; he however assured that the new portal has incorporated all the necessary government agencies involved in cargo clearance.
"You don’t need to have contact with any customs officer now before you clear your goods, you can clear anything you have reported directly from your office, provided you are doing a genuine declaration"
"If everything has been done correctly, customs will just send you an SMS that everything is okay to pick your consignment" Makarfi assured.
While conducting the journalists round the newly-developed Customs Ruling Centre which houses the new ICT and server, Director of the ICT, Deputy Compt. Bashir Yussuf, assured that with the newly developed server, 120 young computer graduates have been employed to work every six hours in three shifts at the centre.
Yussuf pointed out that the trade hub is the first in Africa and that it can be accessed from anywhere.
"We used these young officers to build a software, and this software is called PAAR, and the sister is called Nigeria Trade Hub, whose address is www.nigeriatradehub.gov.ng"
Yussuf said that the website is to guide importers on the kind of cargoes they intend to import and the necessary classifications.
He also assured that Customs is already training over 300 officers who will take over the jobs at the scanning sites, even as he alleged that the service providers have failed to train Customs officers.
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