By Deborah James
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), has commended the leadership of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for its resolve to attain 48hours cargo clearance by leveraging data analysis and technology.
NAGAFF President, Chief Tochukwu Ezisi, gave this commendation during a press conference on Friday on the sidelines of the 2023 Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) conference, in Lagos.
According the NAGAFF President, 48 hours cargo clearance time will become a reality as the NCS optimizes technology for secure and efficient trade facilitation.
His words: “In all honesty, for the first time in 13 years, freight forwarders are very happy with Customs because there are several pertinent issues that have been discussed and crucial decisions being taken right here (Comptroller-General’s conference).
“This has shown that the Customs CG is seriousness in his agenda. I applaud him for taking the initiative to hold this several years after it last held. We look forward to a more robust implementation of the issues discussed at the conference.”
The NAGAFF leader, identified the 24-hour port operation and the NCS commitment to trigger 48hours of cargo clearance as the biggest wins from the conference.
“From the point of the Comptroller General of Customs, (CGC), It is achievable, he is working towards 24 hours port operations and 48-hour cargo clearance time. This may not be immediate, but the 2-day clearance time is achievable with the formation and resolve we have seen at the conference.”
“When we talk about multiple alerts we call on the Assistant-Comptroller-General (ACG) in charge, he centralizes it to a one-stop shop. With that even if someone has 4 alerts, in one hour you can be done with your alert and proceed to clear the consignment. I believe at the end of 2024, even if we don’t achieve 48hours we will achieve 72hours,” Ezisi said.