Nigeria Customs Service has said that advanced cargo manifest must be submitted to it at least seven days before the arrival of every vessel at the nation’s seaports to actualise the 24 hours port operation ordered by government.
It said that import trade documents will be pruned from 14 to 8 while that of export will be reduced from 10 to 7.
Speaking at a one day town hall meeting Comptroller General of Customs Service, Col. Hammed Ali (rtd), said that the advance cargo manifest would enable it activate the risk management profile of every shipper before ship’s arrival.
He said “in order to achieve greater service delivery at the ports, there is need to streamline the current import and export guidelines and procedures. To achieve greater service delivery at our ports, the department of home finance of the Federal Ministry of Finance revised Nigeria’s import and export guidelines streamlining the current procedures”,.
The new guidelines, according to the Customs boss, would focus on some of the issues causing inefficiency and delay at the ports.
Ali who was represented by the Customs Area Controller, Ports and Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) Command of the service, Comptroller Aremu Modupeola, explained that some of the new guidelines would impact directly on the operations of officers and men at the ports.
Focusing on the actualisation of 24 hours ports operation, the Customs boss maintained that the service is positioned to implement the executive order, saying that the impediment to the attainment remains the integrity and compliance of the trading public in ensuring proper documentation and honest declaration.
The Customs chief noted that the service remains the lead agency in cargo examination at the ports, adding that under the new guidelines, cargo placement notice time for examination required by terminal operators would be reduced from the proposed 24 hours to a maximum 12 hours.
