The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Dr. Abdullahi Inde Dikko has laid bare his organisation’s strategy to achieve seamless import processes in the country.

Speaking at a colloquium tagged, “Seamless Shipping in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges” organised by the Maritime Correspondents’ Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON) in Lagos, the Customs boss said the service has developed a Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) mechanism to eliminate bottlenecks in the nation’s import system.

Presenting a paper titled, “Pre-Arrival Assessment Report:  An Initiative for Trade Facilitation and Enhanced Cargo Security”, the Comptroller General said even though progress had been made by concessionaires and service providers in their efforts to reform and modernise the nation’s shipping processes,  adding that the full potentialities of trade facilitation as envisioned under the Revised Kyoto Convention were yet to be realised.

    Dr Dikko, who was represented by the ,Public  relations Officer of Customs,  .

Deputy Comptroller Wale Adeniyi, assured that the P AAR mechanism would entrench a regime of cost-effective and timely clearance of consignments.

His words: “It is gratifying to note that we now have in place a robust platform and a fully automated application system to build on. With its capacity for shared intelligence and risk management, the development of the P AAR application system will signal the dawn of a new era in fostering compliant trade in a secure environment.”

Time, he said, had come for stakeholders in the sector to work together with a view to delivering on the initiative.

“Our experience in implementing the 48-hour clearance of cargo has shown that only a seamless operation, involving all stakeholders collaborating and complementing themselves, can deliver the much-needed objective of cost-effective and timely clearance. No matter the advances recorded by Customs in automation, for instance, the marginal value will be insignificant if not complemented by similar developments in other stakeholder sectors. The entire shipping sector constitutes a long chain of which Customs is only but a part. As the saying goes, a chain is as strong as its weakest link,” the Customs boss said.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dikko disclosed, had given her consent for the test-run of the PAAR initiate to commence.

The Customs chief insisted that his men and officers were fully equipped to handle the transformation of the sector. To demonstrate their readiness for the PAAR system, two customs officers- employed in 2011, Yaro Abdullahi Ibrahim and  Bukola  Omoniyi were assigned to do a presentation on the workings of the P AAR mechanism.

In their presentations, the officers explained that the mandate of Customs in the shipping sector was in the area of striking a balance in trade facilitation, security and revenue generation.

The P AAR mechanism, they added, as a one-stop shop for importers, clearing agents and other stakeholders to interact in a seamless way for the clearance of consignments.

The platform allows importers to submit all their import papers to all regulatory agencies through a single window and ensures that consignments are cleared before arriving the shores of the country, Customs explained.

Earlier in his welcome address, President of the Maritime Correspondents’ Organisation of Nigeria, Ismail Aniemu regretted that though much had been said in the past about improving

the imports and shipping system of the country, nobody was ready to take concrete steps in that direction.