The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has given reasons why it has kicked started the process for the automation of licenses and permits from the service henceforth.
For decades, the procurement of licenses and permits has been plagued by delays and waste of resources in the procurement processes which often begins from NCS commands across the country and ending at Customs Headquarters, Abuja.
It was in a bid to address these ills that the NCS which presently has Dr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi as its Comptroller General that the service kicked started the automation of licenses and permits to freight forwarders.
At a sensitization workshop for stakeholders in the maritime sector of the economy which took place at Customs Training College, Ikeja, Lagos recently, Adeniyi who was represented by Comptroller N.J. Anozie expressed delight that with the commencement of the process, the service has recorded another important point in its innovation-driven modernization processes.
Giving an insight into why NCS commenced the automation of the process of acquiring and renewal of licenses and permits”, NCS boss said: “It is no gain saying that the world has turned to a global village. The automation of every process in Customs procedures is essentially keying into the global best practices. The CGC as we all know, is the father of Customs all over the world today, and as the Chairperson of WCO, he is very persistent about making Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) an epitome of innovative excellence by all standards”.
According to him, automation of licenses and permits is necessary because it will bring about ease of doing business in the maritime sector specifically besides translating into a boost in the generation of the much-needed revenue for Customs and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He explained that the benefits of automation of licenses and permits include the fact that it will save importers, clearing and forwarding agents the stress of acquiring or renewing them as they can do so from the comfort of their offices/homes.
“Officers and men of License and Permit Unit, the Bond Seat Unit of various Commands will also be saved some stress, as all their responsibilities would just be ‘clicks’ on the systems in front of their desks, as opposed to carrying loads of files from one table to another and from one office to the other.
“Automation will cut thecost of doing business and minimize movement risks for our stakeholders. They would no longer be jumping on buses or flights to and fro Customs Headquarters-Abuja, paying hotel bills plus feeding for days, to obtain or renew their licenses and permits”, he said.
The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) also explained that automation will minimize, if not eradicate what he called “fraudulent practices in the system”, as every single document that is uploaded in the course of this process will be automatically rejected by default, if it is fake and accepted if it is genuine.
He noted that the automation of licenses and permits will save time apart from enhancing the statutory revenue generation duties of NCS.
“Automation elicits more efficiency and productivity from the officers as they leverage on the seamlessness of the process to work on more documents in minutes with greater output. The advantages of automation are just endless”, Adeniyi added.
He assured stakeholders that the automation process is simple and seamless as the Bond Seat officers of various Customs Area Commands have been trained before now to handle it effectively.
According to Adeniyi, stakeholders will be guided through the part of the process that concerns their own domain as the tutorial/lecture goes on. After the entire sensitization programme, we will leave all the Bond Seat officers and our esteemed stakeholders some handbooks and posters that contain the step by step procedures of this automation; so that officers and stakeholders alike can consult them from time to time as they proceed in the applications. I can assure you that you will only need to consult this poster or handbook once and the next time – you will be coasting with it – enjoyably.
