Oluchi Chibuzor

The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service(NCS), Wale Adeniyi, has warned detractors against trying to Sabotaging the service’s overtime cargo and clearance system that is developed to facilitate trade and removed corruption in the system.

He stated this at the sensitisation exercise with stakeholders on the e-clearance system held at the Apapa Area Command , Zone A.

Adeniyi noted that the platform have the objective of injecting transparency, of reducing corruption, of making the system more efficient, while warning against those who think they can look for loopholes in the system.

According to him, “As we do that, we are very wary of two groups of people. The first, the self-styled experts who have been in the business for quite some time, and who will come and pick holes in whatever innovation that we try to put in place. Our answer to them will just be for us to ensure that the system works. Once the system works, we will have given them an effective answer. 

“The second group of people, we know them, are criminals, who will want to exploit this system to their advantage. We will also look out for them. The system has been configured in such a way to shut out those who do not have legitimate claims to the consignment. But all the same, we will be on the lookout.

“We will get our intelligence units to take a close look at this. And because we want progress from this, we will not allow those criminal elements to hijack the process and create an obstacle to the progress that we all sincerely desire.”

He further explained that as a service the NCS is not entirely about revenue making, but about facilitating trade and creating more spaces for stakeholders at the port.

“In 2024, our revenue profile rose to N6.3 trillion less than 1 per cent of that came from overtime cargo and so our objective is not about making revenue. Our objectives for deploying these systems include to facilitate trade, to get imported goods to their owners. More important, we want to manage space so that other imports that are coming can have space in our ports and then they can be cleared in a very swift manner. So this system will be deployed and we will appreciate the feedback that we are going to be getting from our stakeholders,’ he said.

Giving a general overview on automation of the overtime cargo and clearance system, Chief Superintendent of Customs, Headquarters, Aliyu Abdukadir, said the e-clearance overtime system allows time records for all processes within the system.

According to him,”The automated overtime cargo clearance system will benefit both the NCS and stakeholders as it was carefully designed to ensure that the legitimate interests of all parties involved in the management, processing and clearance or disposal of overtime cargoes are well accommodated within the E-Clearance System. Some of these benefits include.

“Enhance transparency of overtime clearance processes, simplify procedures, improve data, reduce bottlenecks and decrease human interaction.Streamlined the disposal of overtime cargo through simplified, consistent, and automated document flow, automating disposal records, and improving the efficiency of import and export data.”

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