Customs reduces checkpoints from Seme to Miles to facilitate trade

The Nigeria Customs Service has said it has reduced the number of checkpoints in the corridor along the Seme border to Mile 2 from sixty to three, for ease of business.

The Acting Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi, revealed this during his opening remark at the National Trade Facilitation Committee, NTFC, stakeholders retreat in Lagos.

He alluded that stopping at several checkpoints has been causing impediment in the ease of facilitating trade.

“We have undertaken a review of our enforcement strategies to ensure that we rationalise the number of custom structures that actually have these checkpoints. And one of the structures that we did away with was the so-called Strike Force, which was abolished and their operations were matched with that of our Federal Operations Unit.

• Emiefele: More heads may roll as investigators beam searchlight on CBN, NIRSAL
• 5 councillors impeach Ogun LG chair who accused Abiodun of fund diversion

“I give a marching order to further operation units and the various custom commands around the border to rationalise the number of checkpoints. This is work in progress but I can announce confidently that this has been done. I will continue to monitor and evaluate it. I came with a controller operations unit to this event and I have confirmation that checkpoints have been reduced to only three between Seme and Mile 2,” he said.

Also, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Rt Honourable Emmanuel Jime, said the recent ranking by the global logistics performance index revealed that Nigeria is not performing well.

“On the global logistics performance index, we are 97 and South Africa is 27,” he said.

The CEO represented by the council’s director, Consumer Affairs, Chief Agu Chukwuemeka, noted that the index is a clarion call for the country to review the ease of doing trade.

The secretary, National Trade Facilitation Committee, NTFC, Abdullahi Usman, said the objective of the committee is to coordinate the implementation of trade facilitation agreement in Nigeria and ensure all trade obstacles are removed in terms of time and cost of doing business.