Tin Can Customs, Freight Agents Disagree Over “One-Stop-Shop Initiative” Collapse

Barely two years the initiative was conceived by Tin Can Island command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) , freight forwarders and customs agents have blamed the command over failures to sustain the trade facilitation platform.

The platform which was introduced by Comptroller MBA Musa, Area Controller in charge of Tin Can Island Port Command , aimed to facilitate trade and discouraged multiple alerts for easy clearance of cargo , has come under criticism by the operators over failures of its sustainability.

Operations lamented that the initiative died a natural death from inception, saying issues bothering on multiple alerts persist.

Freight forwarders and customs brokers operating at the command who spoke with our correspondent in separate interviews unanimously said that the platform was dead on arrival.

President, Advocacy for Maritime Development Association of Nigeria, Otunba Segun Alabi, said the initiative was a stillborn saying it did not achieve its objective right from the onset.

According to him, most of the units under the command like, valuation, CPC, ICU, CAC monitoring and compliance team give out alerts to cargoes awaiting clearance at the port.

He challenged the service to show the template, the formality, the working process of the one stop shop, adding that it still boiled down to the way things are done in time past

“It has died even before the man said it. Don’t let us deceive ourselves.

“You see one stop shop means fast track,easy service but are we getting that? Let them show us the template, the formality, the working process of the one stop shop. It still boils down to the way things are done.

“The one stop shop does not mean that you will not answer query, you will answer multiple queries. So, what is one stop shop?

A former chairman of Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), Comrade Jude Ige maintained that the introduction of the one-stop-shop Initiative by the Area Controller failed to address issues bothering on trade facilitation.

He added that monies expended on the innovation was a waste of government scarce resources .

Responding to the allegations, the Public Relations Officer of the command, Uche Ejesieme, a Superintendent of Customs (SC) said “this is not an opportunity to blame game” but added that the purpose for which the platform was created to boost facilitate trade.

According to him, what would have been the basis of wasting money to create such a platform if the command does not have genuine intentions to boost trade facilitation.

He dismissed the allegation that the system collapsed because operatives of the Service were bent on trade facilitation and discourage revenue leakages.

Uche however did not state the cause of the collapse of the noble idea but added that it was a work in progress .

The spokesman said plans are ongoing for the command to revamp the idea of One-Stop-Shop Initiative”

 

His words, “The CAC in his wisdom as a way of practically facilitating trade, muted the idea but somewhere along the line for inexplicable reason, the thing was not working at the level we expect

“Those reasons certainly are not the faults of the Service but I don’t want to apportion blames.

“If people say it is because customs wants to collect here and there, why did we waste facilities creating the platform if we don’t have genuine intentions

“It is a work in progress, yesterday, we had a meeting with our stakeholders, we still looking at what we can do to bring it back, so it is a work in progress,” he maintained.

By Roland Ekama