The comptroller general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has disclosed that the service is prepared to release the result of the Time Release Study (TRS) conducted in 2024.
LEADERSHIP reports that the service had in February 2024 launched TRS, a globally acknowledged tool devised by the World Customs Organisation to facilitate and streamline the clearance process of goods from arrival until their physical release.
However, speaking on the sidelines of his award as Iconic Maritime Personality of the Year 2024, organized by the Nigerian Maritime Journalists (NMJ), Adeniyi said the result of TRS will point to areas that cause delays in the cargo clearance process.
According to Adeniyi, the TRS will also suggest likely solutions as well as whether the service will approach the National Assembly for the amendment of its act to achieve a reduction in cargo clearance time.
“Advanced Ruling has started and we hope that it will take its root in the year. We’re going to release the result of the time release study that we conducted in 2024, and that study will show us what are areas where we have delays in the clearance process and what are the likely solutions. Is it a kind of a process of recalibration? Is it something that we have to go to the National Assembly to amend our laws? Is it something that we’re just going to bring out circulars for implementations amongst various agencies?
“Is it something that we bring other agencies of government together? For example, if Single Window starts in 2025, we hope that we’re going to bridge several gaps in the clearance process. So, I’m so optimistic that in 2025, we’ll take the challenges as they come,” Adeniyi stated.
The Customs boss also stated that consultation has started with stakeholders on the implementation of the 4 per cent Free on-board (FoB) fee.
“The statement that we issued was very clear on that. The four per cent FOB is not a new pronouncement. It’s not a new law issued by the Nigeria Customs Service, it’s a provision of an act which has been in existence since 2023. And we were under a regime of service provisions offered by a service provider as of 2023. By 2024, we were exiting that contractual arrangement and we felt that that would be a time for us to begin the implementation of the four per cent FOB. It’s not a new levy.
“You know, the cost of collection as a funding system has been with us for over a decade. Seven per cent cost of collection to fund Nigeria Customs. It’s not a new thing, but the 2023 Act now says it will be four per cent of FOB.
That is what we were implementing. Of course, we also believe that it will require more stakeholder consultation. We have started, and the minister is leading the charge, to ensure that we get all our stakeholders on board. And to address the remaining issues left by the service providers.”
“All the obligations arising from that contract have been met. So, we’re starting on a clean slate. We’ve come up with a new legacy program in Bodogu for a clearance system in our ports. So, it’s more or less a clean slate. So, all the stakeholders that are involved are going to be consulted. We are going to have this discussion with them.
“It’s not going to be a new law because there is a law already in place. The law charges us to implement modernization programs; the law charges us to do single windows, It charges us to do AEO and all of that. The law knows that this is going to be implemented through a sustainable funding system, which was absent in the seven per cent cost of collection, and this is why the new law is bringing it. So, we will do our consultations and we will begin implementation.”
“If you say the law, then it means that the law has to be amended. So, if the law says four per cent and you want us to implement something different, then that section of the law would have to undergo an amendment,” he stated.
