Nigeria Customs Deputy Comptroller, Automated System of Customs Data (ASYCUDA), Apapa Area Command, Malanta Yusuf, says automation of their operations has leveraged customs service delivery processes to international standards.
Yusuf told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday that the automated service had reduced the number of complaints from incorrect declarations by stakeholders.
He said that unlike the analogue processing system; automation has permanently thinned the crowd at the processing area, except for those with special reasons to be there.
“Automation is real time. When you look at it, we have come a long way from Bill of Entry, come to SGD (Single Goods Declarations), to pre-shipment inspection, to Destination Inspection, where we start our operation with 2.7 ASYCUDA, which is an analogue system.
“When we perfected that, we’ve gone to ASYCUDA plus plus which is more of digital and from there, we’ve come down to ASYCDA 2.0.
“With that again, we have digitalised, whereby we can do e-commerce; e-payment, e-manifest, paperless transactions.
“In the whole of customs commands it has eased up the operation, particularly when it comes to the issue of processing of document.
The deputy comptroller also said that the command usually treated issues of clearance processing error based on their merits and how they could be best handled.
He said some problems might be from the shipping company, port of origin or the manifest itself or the bill of lading.
The other problems, he said, could result from data capturing, or from the e-payment or the bank or from documentation itself.
Yusuf said that the automated system remained one of the best clearance processing operations, with the support of honest clearing agents and the importers.
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