The Trade Modernisation Project(TMP), of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), is designed to ease the transfer of technological knowledge to NCS personnel, its General Manager, Mr Ahmed Ogunshola, has said.
Ogunshola said on Tuesday in Abuja that the project was applying technology to ease export and import clearances, and payment of duties and the release of goods.
“We are deploying modern technology for its implementation; we are working with NCS personnel from the beginning of the process until its completion, to ensure sustainability.
“Our feeling is that if there is no sense of ownership, honestly, at the end of the day, it will be jettisoned.
“We jointly designed and developed these solutions, so there is 100 per cent knowledge transfer in everything that we are doing.
“From the day the first code of the software was written, NCS officers were in the room with us. It was designed, developed and is being deployed from this room (modernisation hub). This has been on since July 2023,” he said.
TMP Ltd is the concessionaire of the NCS trade project.
It is a 20-year concession agreement which has three phases with phase one covering year one to six; phase two, seven to 13, and phase three from 14 to 20.
The agreement was signed on May 27, 2023 between the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by NCS Board, and the Trade Modernisation Project Ltd.
TMP is the automation of the business processes of the NCS to simplify, and enhance, the experience of stakeholders in the trade value chain.
Ogunshola said that during the third phase of the project’s implementation, the concessionaire would step back from management it, leaving NCS to handle it for full six years.
“NCS will continue to perform all its activities and operations; none of its statutory mandate has been concessioned to anyone, and they will continue to man all their stations.
“All we are doing is to provide systems and platforms as well as services that enhance those functions and activities of NCS.
“ We believe that by the end of the project, NCS will be a pride among its peers,” he said.
The project is expected to generate in excess of 250 billion dollars for the Federal Government over the life of the concession.
The concessionaire is expected to invest 3.2 billion dollars to deliver the project over the 20-year period.
