To concretise efforts geared towards facilitating increased export by the Federal Government, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have commenced moves to eliminate duplication of export process at seaports.
The Managing Director, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, who was recently named by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a member of the Implementation Committee of the National Single Window Project met with the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi at the Customs Area Command,Apapa, Lagos to chart course for a seamless export processes.
The meeting focused on infusing greater efficiency in port operations, especially around the export value chain. Specifically, the deliberations focused on the elimination of duplication of Custom export desks undertaking multiple cargo checks from the NPA-licensed Export Processing Terminals (EPT) to the port gate and within the port.
Also featured in the discussion was putting in place inter-agency modalities to ensure that 24-hour port operations, which is a necessary precondition for Port competitiveness become a reality, to which the MD/CEO NPA and the CG Customs agreed to synergiseadvocacy to get other government agencies buy-in.
Bello-Koko advised stakeholders to take advantage of other ports such as the Lekki Deep Seaport, and the Eastern Ports of Calabar, Warri, Rivers, and Onne Port, which in recent times have recorded tremendous growth.
The NPA boss had ahead of attending the meeting undertaken an on the spot check of trucks queuing to enter the port through the dedicated export priority lanes created specifically for export boxes.
