The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) has said that the World Customs Organization would be coming to Nigeria to begin a process of granting Nigerian importers and some clearing agents who have been able to maintain a level of trade compliance with an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) status
Col Ali dropped the hint when he visited the National Secretariat of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in Lagos recently.
According to the World Customs Organization (WCO), an authorized economic operator (AEO) is somebody involved in the international movement of goods in whatever function that has been approved by a national Customs administration as complying with WCO supply chain security standards.
Those eligible for this status include: manufacturers, importers, exporters, customs brokers, carriers, consolidators, intermediaries, ports, airports, terminal operators, integrated operators, warehouses and distributors.
Confirming the impending visit of the WCO to Nigeria to begin the process, Col. Ali said that before customs would grant anyone the AEO status, it would look at the antecedents of such trader in making genuine declaration and duty payments, in addition to an attestation from a clearing agent that the importer is always compliant.
“The World Customs Organization is coming here to run AEO Programmes, the AEO is all about trust between us and the trading partners and the clearing agents, you are the only ones who can certify an importer or a trader to the point where we would now grant him an AEO status”
“You and I are supposed to be the police, so in this AEO programme, we are going to ask you because you are the ones that deal with these people directly on daily basis, so we are going to ask you; can you trust this man? When he brings in his goods, does he give you the true picture of what he has in his consignment? Does he try to hide some of these things? If the answer is yes he compromises, then we would not approve such a person”
“But if you give us the true picture that we can trust any importer or trader against the background that we can trust you, then we can go ahead. What we need to do is search our conscience, compliance is the key to our performance” Ali said.
He assured the clearing agents that the customs is also carrying out a review of all the practicing licenses it had issued, with a view to determining how many foreigners are practicing in the system. He said that after profiling, the customs would apply what is obtainable in other climes where only indigenes are allowed to own customs practicing licenses.
The customs boss also said that the Federal Government is taking steps to raise the level of Nigeria in regards to the ease of doing business by reducing the clearing procedures at Nigerian ports. He said there is a standing committee looking into the matter chaired by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo of which the customs CGC is also a member.
“We are looking at the clearing procedures in other countries. Here in Nigeria, we have about eight, and other countries have about five, some had six, Nigeria has the highest, we are going to narrow it down to the level of other advanced countries to five or six”
“This committee is trying to look at those none essentials that we should do away with so that we can reduce the clearing time, very soon we would achieve this”
“We have now merged the form you are supposed to fill when you travel out of this country, all those long forms we have with immigration has been merged into one based on that committee recommendation. Now, if you are coming into Nigeria as a Nigerian, you will not fill any form except you have something to declare” he said.
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