After successfully handling a similar project in Nigeria, service provider to the Nigeria Customs Service; West Blue has won a contract for Single Window in Ghana.
The firm; West Blue Ghana Consulting Limited which is headed by Valentina Mintah, last week secured approval from Ghana’s the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to operate the controversial single window platform at all ports in Ghana.
After successfully handling a similar project in Nigeria, service provider to the Nigeria Customs Service; West Blue has won a contract for Single Window in Ghana.
The firm; West Blue Ghana Consulting Limited which is headed by Valentina Mintah, last week secured approval from Ghana’s the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to operate the controversial single window platform at all ports in Ghana.
Currently the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) is claiming it has a contract to operate the Single Window facility till 2018 and has written to the country’s Attorney General over a potential breach of contract if West Blue deal goes through.
The Single Window project is expected to provide an opportunity for traders to lodge their documents, including certificates of origin, invoices, customs declarations and import/export permits at a single location (electronically) to be accessed by all regulatory and trade agencies instead of traders sending copies of the same documents to different agencies.
Our correspondent confirmed that West Blue’s bid was strongly backed by the Nigeria Customs Service, which at appoint had to openly throw its weight behind the aspirations of its Single Window service provider; Messrs Westblue Consulting, saying the United Kingdom-based firm executed its contract in Nigeria creditably.
Despite concerns raised over Ghanaian government’s decision to employ the services of West Blue Consulting to operate a national single window at the nation’s ports, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Abdullahi Dikko Inde had in a letter given West Blue Consulting, a clean bill of health.
The anti-West Blue forces in Ghana had also alleged that the firm actually failed in Nigeria, and that its contract was about to be terminated.
Sources also confirmed that, the Nigeria Customs intervention was on the strength of a request for information about West Blue Consulting in Nigeria and the take-over of Destination Inspection (DI) project from the Service Providers.
In a letter to its Ghanaian counterpart, the NCS boss explained that the services of West Blue were sought at a time when the service providers were not being sincere in their dealings.
The Nigeria Customs Service credited West Blue with successes in areas such as: establishment of a new trade portal which provided round the clock online, real time information about Nigeria International Trade, spearheading the development of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) for pre-arrival processing of Nigerian imports; a project which he claimed has been a success story by increasing revenue by about 20%, among others.
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