Arms: W/Customs organisation seeks better border mgt

Director General of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Kunio Mikuriya has called for better coordination in border management in Nigeria to help monitor the movement of arms and improve trade facilitation.

He made the call yesterday when he visited the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters in Abuja.

Mikuriya noted that his interaction with traders in Lagos indicated that the business community wants better transparency and predictability even as they complained about the multiple agencies at the ports as causing delay in businesses.

The World Customs Organisation boss advised that a more coordinated border system using the single window environment and information technology system should be deployed to help address the situation.

He said: “The IT that we just saw at the Customs control centre can really provide the basis for the connectivity; we are living in the 21st century so we have to make the best use of IT that can connect Customs to Customs and Customs to business. We also expect business to be more compliant and in that way we can have a win-win situation.”

However, he said, stakeholders are very positive and supportive of the transformation of the Customs Service and commended the government over the termination of the pre-shipment inspection previously contracted to the private sector.

While expressing satisfaction with Nigeria Customs modernisation and its role as vice chair of the WCO West and Central African region, he harped on the diversification of revenue for the country through trade facilitation and ease of doing business.

In his remarks, Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, noted that up till December 2, 2013 when the service providers, contracts was terminated by the federal government, the scheme did not impact on the capacity development of officers.

Dikko noted that the scheme was about profit making venture for the contractors and commended government for the termination.