NPA, FAAN to work on uniform manifest with Customs

Nigerian Ports Authority

As part of measures to improve revenue, block leakages and enhance trade facilitation, the Federal Government has integrated Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) with Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on uniform manifest.

Under the arrangement, importers, agents and other stakeholders are to streamline the submission of their manifest to the NCS.

The integration process designed by Webb Fontaine Nigeria Limited, specialist in provision of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is also structured to curtail discrepancies and differences in manifests submitted by importers and their agents.

Speaking on the development on Monday, the Public Relations Officer of NCS, Wale Adeniyi explained that the new procedure would fast-track transaction process and stop alleged fraud.

According to Adeniyi, single manifest is easier to manage and more convenient for all stakeholders.

In a related development, Webb Fontaine has put in place a digital Certificate for the Standard Organisation of Nigeria(SON).

The Guardian gathered on Monday that the digital certificate makes it more convenient for importers of SON regulated products to carry out transactions without hitches as importers “do not need a hard copy certificate for processing importation”.

Already, the Director-General of SON, Dr Paul Angya has commended the initiative, noting that it would aid transaction time and processes.

Meanwhile, importers are required to input their SON certificate reference number instead of the previous arrangement of attaching photocopies of SON Certificates.

The uniform manifest regime is also expected to help government generate accurate data for planning and economic purposes such as the number of shipping lines, number of vessels and types of cargoes coming to Nigeria.

A press statement quoted Webb Fontaine as saying “‘Implementations of Webb Fontaine products are focused on delivering a customisation of the core system using the company’s development centres, resident expatriates and local resources”.

It added: ‘’Webb Fontaine has deployed customized Trade World Manager solutions for Customs automation in the Kingdom of Bahrain (called OFOQ), Armenia, the Philippines (called e2M) as well as selected modules in Nigeria”.