The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, has reaffirmed the commitment of the service to a transparent, efficient, and inclusive rollout of the clearance platform, assuring stakeholders of ongoing improvements based on their feedback.
He gave the assurance during a town hall meeting with stakeholders in Lagos, with the theme: “Enhancing trade compliance and system optimisation through stakeholder engagement.”
Adeniyi said the town hall meeting stemmed from a series of consultations, some led by the support team, others by the ICT/Modernisation Department, and many personally by him over the past two weeks.
“It’s important we create this platform to allow you to share your concerns with us and describe your experience using the clearance,” he said.
While acknowledging reports of challenges, the customs comptroller general noted that the feedback has not been entirely negative.
“We’ve received many positive responses from stakeholders, including freight forwarders and agents,” he added.
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Adeniyi reiterated the service’s vision to make the clearance platform a benchmark for digital trade facilitation, especially since Nigeria currently chairs the World Customs Organisation (WCO).
“Our goal is to make clearance the reference point in trade facilitation. Now that Nigeria holds the WCO chairmanship, we want to show the world we can create and manage a home-grown system.”
He also addressed concerns surrounding the newly introduced four percent free on-board charge, clarifying that it will replace multiple existing levies.
“Once the four percent free on-board takes effect, the one percent comprehensive import supervision scheme will cease automatically.
“In addition, the seven percent cost of collection currently charged will also be completely removed,” he explained.
