Customs targets seamless revenue collection through trade modernisation

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced that the Trade Modernisation Project (TMP), if fully deployed, will enhance seamless revenue collection and curtail smuggling across the country.

The spokesman of NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, made the disclosure while answering questions from journalists during a tour of the TMP office in Abuja on Tuesday 

Maiwada said, “The World Customs Organisation which the NCS is part of has a guiding principle of simplifying trade and improving revenues; which is what the project is targeted at doing.”

Also speaking, Ahmed Ahmed Ogunsola , the General Manager at TMP Limited, a Bergmans subsidiary that is the concessionaire to the Nigeria Customs Service modernisation project, noted that seven different work groups had been established to achieve the aim of thr project.

He said, “The Trade Modernisation Project (TMP) is a 20-year project which started in 2022, and the sole aim is to digitise the entire customs operations at the ports and make duty collections seamless through the Unified Customs Management System.

“So far, the project has seven working groups which are software development workgroup, geospatial workgroup, project management workgroup, networking and telecom, server and cloud working group, cyber security and the non-intrusive intrusive workgroup – which is cargo scanners.” 

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Responding to enquiries on the defence mechanisms created on the system against cyber attacks, he noted that,  “Seven layers of security and code level cyber security analysis are currently operational, and before any code is pushed, it is analysed. The project is in the first phase of deployment of all softwares, while the second and third phases will concern maintenance and handover to officers of the customs service respectfully.”