The Nigeria Customs Service and the United Kingdom’s His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs are set to finalise a new agreement aimed at improving information sharing, compliance and trade facilitation between both countries.
The Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement is expected to be signed in December after the two countries concluded another round of negotiations in Abuja on Friday.
The latest talks followed about six months of virtual negotiations before officials of both customs administrations met physically at the NCS headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, to resolve outstanding issues.
The Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Strategic, Research and Policy Department, Nafi’u Isyaku, who represented the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this during the bilateral meeting.
Isyaku said the face-to-face meeting was convened to conclude the negotiations ahead of the proposed signing.
“The meeting is to finalise our Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement. We have been doing it virtually for some six months now. We decided to come here in person so that we can finalise the negotiations before the final signing,” he said.
According to him, the agreement is expected to be signed in the first week of December during the World Customs Organisation Policy Commission meeting.
The Senior Policy Adviser at HMRC, Syed Moinuddin, said the meeting provided an opportunity for both customs administrations to identify areas of cooperation and establish a framework that would serve the interests of the two countries.
Also, the Head of Bilateral Relations and Agreements at HMRC, Louisa Bentley, said the two-day negotiations had been successful, adding that both sides were close to concluding the agreement.
Bentley said the deal would boost trade by improving compliance and information sharing between the NCS and HMRC.
She added that stronger cooperation would also enhance trade facilitation and enable both countries to take advantage of global trade opportunities.
The HMRC delegation also inspected key facilities at the NCS headquarters, including the Trade Modernisation Project Limited office, Pre-Arrival Assessment Report office and Nigeria Customs Broadcasting Network station.
“We have seen significant developments in technology and personnel training,” Bentley said, adding that the reforms would support more modern and efficient trade processes.