The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it has put in place modalities to check abuse of its fast track scheme by non-complaint importers with a view to removing them from the scheme.
Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah in a statement on Monday, explained that the delay being experienced in processing Form ‘M’ and in the issuance of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), was due to internal auditing of fast-track beneficiaries to fish out the non-compliant beneficiaries.
According to Attah, normal speed in the process of issuance of PAAR will be restored immediately the backlog accumulated due to this intervention is cleared from the system.
According to the statement, “The Nigeria Customs Service wishes to explain the current delay in the approval of both Form ‘M’s as well as the issuance of Pre-Arrival Assessment Reports (PAAR) at the PAAR Ruling Centre in the interest of stakeholders.
“The delay being experienced in the process of Form ‘M’ and PAAR now is due to internal auditing of fast-track beneficiaries which hitherto made up 20 percent in order to fish out the non-compliant beneficiaries.
“NCS has now put in place modalities to identify this group of beneficiaries with a bid to removing them from the scheme while compliant ones continue to enjoy the fast track facility.
“It will be recalled that the timelines for approval of Form ‘M’ and issuance of PAAR were approved by the Customs Comptroller-General, Hameed Ibrahim Ali in April 2018. The approval allocated a maximum of 24 hours process time for Form ‘M’ and the issuance of PAAR after the upload of all relevant documents from the duty collecting banks.
“Nigeria Customs Service will continue to uphold the timelines and facilitate the timely process of all imports and exports in line with Federal Government effort to make Nigeria an investment destination.
“While craving the understanding of our dear stakeholders in the on-going effort to clean the system, please be assured of the Service determination to make import and export processes even better.”
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