Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has commended the single window initiative by the Nigeria Customs Service, saying it would eliminate human contact, bottlenecks and corruption from goods clearing environment.

President of the association, Chief Kola Jamodu, described it in Lagos recently at the end of single window workshop organised by the Customs Service, as a necessary platform needed to significantly boost government revenue from trans-border trade. Besides, he said it would help in actualizing the nation’s dream for 48-hour cargo clearing scheme.

“From all accounts, the aspiration of the Government and the private sector is the attainment of 48-hour cargo-clearing, which at present is about five days, having come down from the dismal 40 days obtainable three to four years ago.

“The impressive reduction in the long chain of regulatory/ security agencies operating at the port from about 19 to seven were to prepare the port for the Single Window Clearing System. This will no doubt significantly reduce both direct and indirect costs of clearing cargoes in the country,’’ he said adding, that the NSW would certainly increase the competitiveness of locally produced goods, either for domestic consumption or for export.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi, has assured the nation that when the NSW comes on stream, it might wipe off stakeholders’ complaints on issues of man-made bottlenecks in cargo administration.

“The creation of a NSW holds many benefits for Nigeria: increased levels of service efficiency, predictable process and elimination of administrative bottlenecks; and which will ultimately increase revenue and economic growth”, he declared, in a statement delivered by Deputy Comptroller General (DCG), Mr. J. Atteh, who represented him at the workshop.

According to the Customs’ boss, single window was a tool which manufacturers, exporters, importers, terminal operators, financial houses and regulatory bodies have all been waiting for.

“The Nigeria Customs Service recognizes these benefits and therefore reiterates its continuous commitment to creating the perfect NSW for Nigeria as the leading agency. All hands are on deck to realize the target of improving our trading across borders ranking by 50 percent in the next five years”, he said.

Meanwhile, a Single Window expert, Johan Ponten has advised that though the initiative was a positive change, Nigeria must ensure that it proactively implement plans to prepare and support those to be affected by it.

Presenting his feasibility study as a resource person, Ponten stressed the need for proper use of communication to intimate reasons behind every decision, for staff see reasons and understand why such change was needed, as well as the possibilities and challenges that lay ahead of them.

“New information should be given in a coordinated, effective and timely way. Roles should be clear, detailing who is responsible for sending what messages” he counseled, even as reiterated the need for accuracy of information, being precisely shared at regularly arranged stakeholders’ fora. “If stakeholders are not convinced about what they are listened to, they will go silent” he posited further. In her contribution, resource person and NSW content enhancer, Valentina Mintah traced NSW journey back to strenuous and painstaking efforts, studies and stakeholders meetings held between April, 2012 and September 2012, especially from the first National Stakeholders Conference which was supported by UNECE, UNECA and the WCO, organized by the NCS and MAN to enable both the private and public sectors define the concept of the NSW.

“There have been a number of attempts at Single Window implementations around the world with a mixed bag of outcomes. Successful implementations such as Singapore, Senegal and Thailand have organically grown their Single Window environment by focusing on the streamlining of processes; empowerment of system operators and users; the inclusion of private sector in implementation activities; strong technical capacity; the creation of ICT systems owned by the nation; strong consultation framework and sound governance and management structures.

“To ensure a similar success story, if not better, we adopted a systematic approach of conducting a Feasibility Study by ensuring adequate focus was given to the 4Ps, which is People, Processes, Platform and Policy”, she highlighted, noting that the feasibility study involved days of desk research, countless stakeholder meetings and strategic site observations to ensure that the needs of the nation’s trade environment was fully captured, the gaps understood and a road map laid out to help in a collective attainment of vision.