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The Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council on Monday disclosed plans to develop a single window platform for the automation and integration of export processes.
The automation and integration will be done through the Nigerian Trade Hub presently being managed by the Customs.
The move is part of efforts aimed at addressing dwindling oil revenue by diversifying the economy in a manner that will support the present administration’s economic agenda to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on oil.
In order to achieve this, the training of the first batch of 35 NEPC members of staff on the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System has been concluded, while the second batch is expected to commence soon.
The Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, stated this while receiving in his office the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (retd).
Awolowo also assured the Customs boss that the recent reject of some Nigerian food items by the United Kingdom would soon be a thing of the past following the constitution of an inter-agency technical committee on non-oil exports by the NEPC to map out strategies to address the problem.
He noted that the rejection of most of the food items was due to the activities of some agents who engaged in sharp practices in their business conduct.
Awolowo, therefore, called on the comptroller-general to assist in the area of trade facilitation, particularly as regards the activities of clearing and forwarding agents.
On the backlog of the Export Expansion Grant Scheme, Awolowo said a lot of measures needed to be put in place to address the problem.
These include an acceptable timeframe of five years for policy implementation and review, and the need to adopt other funding options for the administration of the scheme.
