The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has taken the Nigeria Customs Service to the cleaners over the introduction of the Nigeria Customs Integrated System (NICIS 2), describing it as a mere change in procedure, with no value addition.
The President of NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche, said this when the Customs Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service, Assistant Controller General (ACG) Dahiru Aminu paid a visit to the associations headquarters in Lagos recently.
Speaking during the visit, Uche also called on the ACG to enlighten NAGAFF members on the new platform, adding that with the old platform of ASYCUDA which was introduced in 2006 when the ports were concessioned, operations at the ports were easier.
He reiterated that the new NICIS 2 has made the situation in the ports worse than what it is used to be.
“This migration from ASCUDA 3.0 to NICIS 2, we just discovered that what is going on is a mere change of procedure, no value addition. We have seen what is going on, it is difficult and we feel that now that you are here, we have seen that it is an opportunity for our members who are here to be enlightened more”, he told the ACG.
“We want to understand this NICIS 2 the more; there are problems that are inherent now more than what we have had before”, he added.
He also called for the need for freight forwarders operating at the nation’s airport to conform to the rules guiding the trade.
“Of course you must have heard what is going on at the airport and we are aware that part of the problems in the airport was caused by freight forwarders and customs licensed agents especially those who are not in conformity with the rules. I overheard them saying that they are going to withdraw the services of some of our members”
Also speaking, the customs zonal coordinator, who expressed happiness for the visit also said that the new platform was created for so many things like, accountability adding that it has also helped in the area of revenue generation for the service.
He explained that the platform though is a customs concept but is for everybody at the ports stressing for the need for all hands to be on deck to achieve the full potentials of the platform.
“The issue of selectivity, saying that what we are seeing now is more than what it is used to be, I disagree with that. Because it is something that has to do with what you put into the system that will automatically graduate or demote you to a particular point. Then the issue of NICIS 2, like we all know is meant for so many things particularly, accountability and transparency. At a place like PTML, I can say that after the training period, the collection made has never been done at that command. Before then the revenue was about N10.6billion but by the end of that amount when the implementation of NICIS 2 has fully commenced after passing through all the huddles we collected almost N11billion. And we relate it to the migration to NICIS from ASYCUDA and I can say that similar record is about to be set or almost set at Tin-Can. I know that NICIS is customs concept but it is meant for all of us. As we are trying to improve you are equally going to improve. It is not a one man show, one person cannot make sound alone there must be a helper for a sound to make”, he concluded.
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