NCS signs MoU with China Customs for economic growth enhancement

By Abiodun OBA

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been consummated between the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) to foster bilateral relationship for the enhancement of economic growth.

A week ago, the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) Adewale Adeniyi last week led some of his management team in Shenzhen, where he highlighted the significance of knotting bilateral affiliation with China, which, according to him, will boost the two countries’ import-export operations and favour the businesses of MSMEs in Nigeria.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Adeniyi commended the Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Lingjun, for showing interest in signing MoU with the NCS adding that the recent exponential rise in the development of e-commerce.

He said: “We know a lot of Nigerian companies and SMEs take advantage of the opportunities aided through e-commerce.”

Adeniyi expressed optimism that the NCS-GACC Memorandum of Understanding will serve as a critical component of cooperative security and trade relationship between the two nation’s Customs agencies, reiterating that “the relationship will create a cooperative mechanism for NCS and the GACC to collaborate on supply chain security standards and enhance the economic stability of both nations.”

“These are some of the many reasons why Nigeria Customs Service pays attention to what is happening in China. As you have said, China is making the biggest trade in Nigeria, and the basic context of International Trade is ‘your export is our import’. I appreciate the numbers that you gain in Nigeria. But it is also common knowledge that those numbers sometimes must take account of the large volume of informal trade that exists between us.” CGC Adeniyi said.

Mr Wang Lingjun of the General Administration of Customs, who represented Vice Minister Sun Yuning, and signed the MoU on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, expressed satisfaction over Adeniyi’s vision that the affiliation between two agencies will serve as a mechanism for creating opportunities that Nigeria and China share on a wide range of economic issues and trade facilitation.