30 April 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — THE Comptroller of the Tin Can Island Area Command, Yusuf Bashar has said that Ease of Doing Business initiative is primarily all about transparency in data processing, and cautioned importers to desist from submitting ‘doctored’ and ‘adulterated’ invoices.
Bashar Disclosed this a forum Lagos, on “Ease of Doing Business Reform” organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environmental Council (PEBC) in Lagos.
Comptroller Bashar who also pleaded with shippers and industrialists to imbibe the culture of transparency and accountability urged shipping operators to equally imbibe international best practices and assist in a genuine reduction in the quality of time currently spent in clearing cargo at ports.
“It requires transparent operations. We have seen a country like Thailand move from very horrible position to number one in the Single Window cargo clearance system.
“This is possible because Thailand’s citizens, Thailand’s Customs and other operators in that country pledged to improve their system,” Bashar indicated, highlighting that neither the Customs Service nor the stakeholders should be singled out for blame in the event that delays are experienced in the course of cargo clearance.
He recalled that some years back, cargoes were imported through pallets and wondered why Nigerians should be importing without pallets, even as he expressed concern that Nigerians had refused to bother about international best practices.
“Ease of Doing Business’’ was based on transparency, the integrity of data and having the love of the country at heart.
“If you want to ship for example mobile phones to Nigeria, you are entitled to a bill of lading and the ASYCUDA system gives you the opportunity to log into the Single Goods Declaration (SGD) and clear them out of the container”.
He opined that the Service will continue to improve on sensitisation of stakeholders on a continuous basis, as part of the measures, to dissuade potential lawbreakers to turn a new leaf.
