Abbas Yushau Yusuf
The Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ibrahim Ali has said that the approval of the Automation of Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) by the Federal Government will provide incentives that will stimulate industrialization and economic growth.
He said the automation of IDEC will not only block revenue leakages with its attendant positive effects but also promote trade efficiency, boost investors’ confidence, transparency, and indeed the ease of doing business.
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Hameed who was represented by Compt. Lawrence Bameyi, Nigeria Customs Training College Kano, made this known on Monday during a one-day sensitization seminar on the digitalization of import duty exemption, organized by the Federal Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service.
According to him, the just-approved E-Customs project that signals the beginning of end-to-end automation of Nigeria Customs Service processes and procedures will usher a new regime of total automation of all transborder trade activities.
Ali noted that the initiatives approved in November 2019 and the roll-out of the technology in March 2020, are in line with the provisions of section 1, Articles 1 to 12 of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in which Nigeria is a signatory.
The Hon. Minister, Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning Haj. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed (Mrs) stated that the present administration is keen on promoting and sustaining transparency and efficiency in delivering services in the public sector domain and the organized private sector with the approval in harmony with the need to entrench process efficiency for IDEC administration.
According to the Minister represented by the Commissioner of Finance and Budget, Kano State, Shehu Kura, the basis for providing these incentives is to drive economic growth and overall development.
She said the incentives are not granted based on discretion but are targeted at sectors that have the kinetic capacity for high impact multiplier outcomes on the overall economy.
The sectors are; Agriculture, power, textile, cement, solid minerals, utilization of Nigerian gas, liquefied petroleum gas, modular refinery, and others.
Ahmed further stated that approximately N341.94 Billion worth of waivers were granted from August 2017 to August 2019 with the scope of such requests expanding; hence the need to have in place modern technology to drive its administration.
Furthermore, she stated that as anticipated, the turn-around process time for an IDEC application, under the automation regime has been reduced to barely 1 week from approximately 30-60 days under the manual clime.
