The Federal Government plans to generate over $250 billion through the ongoing Customs Modernisation Project of the Nigeria Customs Service.
The NCS, which stated this on Tuesday, said the project include the automation of its business processes to simplify and enhance the experience of stakeholders in the trade value chain, making it easy to obtain import and export clearances, pay duties and obtain the release of goods.
The NCS also announced that it has successfully tested the use of drones and body cameras to counter the smuggling of goods at borders ahead of its deployment under the Customs Modernisation Project.
It disclosed this during the media tour and sensitisation of the Trade Modernisation Project activities in Abuja, where the service provided details about the functions of the TMP.
In a document made available to journalists by the TMP on the frequently asked questions about the Customs Modernisation Project, it was stated that the initiative would significantly grow the Federal Government’s revenue.
“The major advantage of the project is the significant growth in the revenue profile of the Federal Government. The project will generate in excess of $250 billion for the Federal Government over the life of the concession.
“The project will bring Nigeria at par with the rest of the world in the deployment of technology to facilitate international trade. The economic diversification activities of the Federal Government will receive a strong boost by providing further ease of cross-border trading,” it stated.
The Customs Modernisation Project involves a public-private partnership framework which entails that the project sponsor incorporates a special-purpose vehicle.
The SPV in this case is the Trade Modernisation Project Limited, which is the concessionaire handling the project for a 20-year period that started in 2022.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the tour, a Chief Superintendent of Customs, Bukola Omoniyi, explained that various software had been deployed in the project to counter smuggling and boost revenue for the country through the NCS.
“We have the geospatial intelligence software. Presently our officers have already done geo-mapping and the geo-location of all NCS offices. With the software on that table, it can show you the location of all customs offices that we have presently.
“And with that, we are introducing body cameras. All these will be connected to the system, and when it is connected, it means you can physically see the presence of officers.
“The software also helps us to monitor satellite feeds that will tell you if there’s danger anywhere. We also have drones that are to be deployed in this project and with the satellite feeds from all these we will be able to have our eyes everywhere.
“This will feed information to our enforcement officers, and even though they are going as a team, they will not be going in blind to any location. We’ve done the testing and this means we can monitor their movements, monitor the smuggling of goods, etc,” she said.
Also speaking at the event, the National Public Relations Officer of Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the overall objective of the Customs Modernisation Project was to deploy a comprehensive solution across the administrative and operational activities of the service.
This, he said, was in line with the mandate of the service for effective tariff collection, securing the border, preventing smuggling and managing relevant data about the movement of goods across the Nigerian border.
On his part, the General Manager, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, Ahmed Ogunshola, said the project would deliver a technology architecture that would provide the required platform for the project, deploy the necessary technology across all NCS sites in line with the approved timeline and provide organisation-wide capacity building to ensure sustainable implementation.
“By the time the project is fully implemented, it will cover all areas of customs activities, including duties collection, clearance operations and suppression of smuggling,” he said.
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