Customs has achieved 85% paperless system - Ali

…Says WTO can save Nigeria’s economy

The Comptroller-General (CG) of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd.) has advocated for full compliance to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements as a way of improving the nation’s revenue.

Ali made the call at the 2018 edition of the annual Nigeria International Maritime Ports and Terminals Conference and Expo (NIMPORT) during a paper presentation on

“An Insight into Customs Clearance and Changing Policies.”

The Customs helmsman was represented at the conference by the Deputy Controller, Enforcement at Tin Can Command, Deputy Comptroller (DC) Dera Nnadi.

He posited that WTO had already established the right framework for trade policies that should see the nation’s economy blossom.

Ali said, “Nigeria is a signatory to the WTO agreement and the essence of that agreement is to facilitate trade across the globe and to empower every economy.

“It discourages barriers to trade such as tariff barriers, official barriers and provides a platform thriving on transparency. The agreement also introduces competitiveness among the trading communities or nations” he said.

Although studies show that the WTO boosted trade and research shows that in the absence of the WTO, the average country would face an increase in tariffs on their exports by 32% points, the Customs boss lamented that the country was yet to maximize the potentials of the trade agreement.

He revealed that the Customs had achieved 85% paperless system as it had adopted efficient online mechanisms for its operations such as the new Customs online platform to expedite clearing process; Nigerian Integrated Customs Information System II (NICIS II).

Meanwhile, plans are underway by the Customs Service to reach an agreement with Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) towards developing a single window platform to capture data for vessels that call at the nation’s ports.

According to the customs boss, other key principles in the WTO agreement are compliance to Information Technology (I.T) and frequent stakeholder engagements.