The Nigeria Customs Service said it’s partnering with the Directorate-General Taxation and Customs Union of the European Union to facilitate trade, monitor export and documentations in Nigeria.

The Comptroller-General of customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this after a meeting with the DG TAXUD on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr Adeniyi said that the partnership was apt, considering that the NCS was seeking a credible digital platform that would enhance its validation of documents.

He expressed confidence that the initiative would open a new frontier of opportunities between the two economic blocs of registered exporters.

He stressed the need for a framework between customs and DG TAXUD that could be used to verify and validate export commodities.

He said, “As part of our outreach programme, we are also working with other agencies of the Nigerian government so that we maximise these opportunities. In the past, we have had goods from Nigeria returned because of quality and storage. We have moved to establish a ‘one-stop-shop’ export seat for export documentation, so that it will help us reduce the time taken for Nigerian exporters to get their goods out of our port.

“Earlier this month, we launched the time release studies, which we are targeting towards importing of goods and how much it takes for businessmen to clear their goods in the port.’’

According to the NCS boss, the service will launch a similar exercise using scientific procedures to get the appropriate estimate of the period and cost for the export of products.

He said that the exercise would involve identifying bureaucratic modules, procedures, or laws that cause delays, to accelerate the process of clearing goods from the ports.

“My intention for us is to have a system that is better, faster, and easier to confirm your request within a short period. I want us to talk about exportation like we all talk about importation,” he said.

On his part, from the Rules of Origin Unit, DG TAXUD, Gary Wilkinson, said that Nigerian products had been earmarked to receive a four per cent tariff discount on their exports.

Mr Wilkinson added that specific rules had been put in place to ascertain the origin of products under the organisation’s generalised system of preference scheme.

The DG TAXUD manages, defends, and develops the customs union as an essential part of securing the outer borders of the European Union and coordinates taxation policy across the region.

(NAN)