Customs Area Controller for Tin Can Island Port Command, Comptroller Dera Nnadi mni addressing the senior officers during the opening session of the training.

The Tin Can Island Port Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has organised an in-house training on trade facilitation for senior officers of the command within the Assistant and Deputy Comptrollers cadre in line with the new management’s efforts at boosting revenue through efficiency and competitiveness.

Speaking during the opening session of the training, Monday, Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Dera Nnadi mni, also disclosed that the command was planning to introduce automated process for the handling of transire cargo at command, which ranks second biggest in Nigeria in terms of cargo volumes and revenue after the Apapa Command.

Transire operation, literally speaking, is the process that encourages movement or transfer of containers from the mother port to off-dock facilities comprising bonded terminals, Free Trade Zones, or national premises etc, to enhance a fast track of their clearance.

He noted that this process, which is primarily designed to decongest the ports, has remained mostly manual at the moment, a development that seems to defeat the real essence of the process, which is to facilitate fast track to curb cargo backlogs.

“The transire process is currently manual in the sense that when you load the container into the truck, you fill forms, everything is done physically. By automating the process, what we want to do is to, at least for a start, record the number of containers going out on a digital database instead of recording them on the hardcopy notebooks alone.

“In addition to the hard copy notebooks, we also document them on the computer systems. When the consignments get to their destinations, we also automate the certificate for that. So, you don’t need to wait for somebody to bring the physical copy to you. As the container lands in the terminal, somebody would capture it on the systems, which will hit your email box or whatever online platform you want.

“This automation will improve efficiency in the port. It will also guarantee security such that nobody will steal or divert containers. Now, we know that this will not be 100per cent secure at the onset and that’s why we also recommend tracking of the containers using escorts, so that nobody will have reasons to say, I didn’t know where the container entered”, the Tin Can Customs boss said.

It was however gathered that the motive behind the training for the senior officers of the Command was to drive home the need for trade facilitation and to bring the officers up to speed with the changing dynamics of global trade arena as well as current realities in the country.

Comptroller Nnadi observed that with the port and the international trade arena as a whole being dynamic with frequent government policy changes to adapt to the new global economic realities and developments, Customs officers cannot afford to remain in their old cocoons and therefore needed to be trained to be able to adapt to these new global supply chain realities.

He said: “For those that we are regulating, for those that we are encouraging to be compliant and pay correct duties, they are also updating their skills in carrying out their trade. Therefore, we need to bring ourselves at par with the developments, including teaching our officers how to encourage compliant traders, and also letting the officers know how to face the non-compliant ones with a view to making them become compliant and recovering not only government revenues, but also prioritising national security.”

As part of efforts to address some of the challenges posed by non-compliant stakeholders, it was further gathered that the Command was considering holding a similar workshop for the stakeholders so that everyone would be on the same page in the overall interest of the country.

He further said: “If we facilitate trade for a trader and saves money from demurrage, he reduces the cost of that particular good, and it’s more affordable. So, the majority of people have something for themselves. At the same time, if I release cargo for a manufacturer speedily, as an industrialist he saves money that will be added this overhead profit, it will likely go employ more people, or expanding his business. For the number of people that the company takes out of the streets, into the company and pays salary, they add value to the nation, which in turn, helps address insecurity across the nation, which is partly fueled by unemployment. If you add value, people pay tax, from the tax they pay, the government provides for our security agencies and the military, the government provides roads, electricity and other basic social amenities.”