Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has set up Free Trade Command at the Quits Aviation Services Free Trade Zone (FTZ) centre, a development that is expected to reduce processing time for importers and exporters.
Speaking at the unveiling of the Command, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Quits Aviation Services Limited, Sam Iwuajoku, stated that before Customs decided to establish the command, there was long delay in the processing of imports and exports, which was adversely affecting business in the free trade zone.
He decried the situation where the bureaucracy remained one of the major challenges faced by businesses utilising the terminals, but expressed relief with the establishment of the Free Trade Command by Customs.
Iwuajoku also noted that before the creation of the Customs Free Trade Command, processing documents for any import through Murtala Mohammed International Airport Custom Command, took very long time, adding that to improve service delivery, the NCS created the Custom Free Trade Zone command which headquarters is based at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
He further explained that the NCS decided to create a branch of the Command at Quit Aviation Trade zone to ensure that all the free trade zone companies within the airport would process their imports and exports through the Quits Aviation facility.
He remarked that before the launch, they requested for Quits Aviation to give Nigeria Customs Service an office, which the management acquiesced, adding that the office has Iinternet enabled computer systems and the server connects to NCS server bankrolled by the company for effective service delivery.
He added that the Quit Aviation free trade zone has a full Customs Free Trade Zone Command in it, which is not only for Quits, but it is for all enterprises and free trade zones within airport area.
“Like what I told them before, whenever we have goods and bill of lading coming, we write to Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), who will in turn write to the Custom Commander at Murtala Mohammad Airport, When the goods arrive there, due to Nigeria’s bureaucracy, the processing that is supposed to take one hour or 30 minutes to carry out, will eventually take one day and sometimes, three or four days.
“So, by putting their Command here it will bring an end to the red tape, so we will no longer have issues of delay. Remember, we are at the airport and we deal with aviation spare parts for aircraft that is on ground, and those things are things you need urgently. So, with the zone here it will help to expedite our processing and results. Therefore, it is a welcome development. The bureaucratic processes can lead to an increase in damage of perishable goods,” he said.
Iwuajoku also stated that the delay creates huge losses for “us as well as companies that want to move their goods”.
According to him, “Sometimes the delay causes damage to perishable goods. The major problems we have at the ports both Tin Can ports are caused by human factors. I do not see any reason why a container will arrive in Nigeria’s ports and the Customs will inspect the goods and conclude every necessity, and when it gets out of the port, another unit of customs will stop it and start another inspection.
“When you go to some countries, something that is supposed to take 30 minutes, takes days in Nigeria. It is discouraging and that is why in Nigeria we are losing investors; they rather go to Ghana where they will not get all this ‘red tape’. In Nigeria, we are causing ourselves problems. These are the challenges we have in the country, and all this adds to the cost of doing business here. Setting up a Customs command here cuts off all this ‘red tape’, so we will no longer experience those issues.”
He also said it was difficult to quantify the monetary values of the goods that come into the free trade zone, disclosing that sometimes, they might have 20 to 100 orders per day, which comes from overseas.
Iwuajoku further said: “What is being imported might be a small item, while another might be big. If it is aircraft spares some spares can come in together but might belong to different airlines. So, the new Command will help but at the same time again it is depending on Nigerian factor. We hope that with the coming of a new government, these bottlenecks would be addressed. In other countries, the documentation processes usually takes a short period of time, while in Nigeria it takes days, which is very discouraging and that is why we are losing investors. These investors prefer to go to Ghana where they will not suffer these bottlenecks. Quit Aviation import value for 2022 was over $12 million and this was due to the construction we are carrying out. All the materials we are using are imported from overseas.
“MRO- Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul saves a lot of capital flight. But the challenge we are having is the Nigeria factor. For instance, some of the Nigeria pilots don’t appreciate anything made in Nigeria; they prefer to take the repairs and maintenance of the aircraft overseas. They tell the owners of the aircraft that it cannot be properly maintained or repaired in Nigeria. We have some domestic airlines that do their MROs here such as Air Peace. In the past we had Aero when they were still doing well, so they bring their Boeing B737 aircraft. In the last one year, we have witnessed decrease due to the economic policy of the government and inconsistence of policies. Federal government has good policy, but implementation is the problem. Before 2015, if you were here, you will see about 10 aircraft. People come in and out and based on that there is an activity. Presently the activities here are very low, but after the election, it may pick up. There is no surge even during this election period, when compared to 2015, but there are still some activities taking place.”
On her part, the Comptroller FTZ, Customs, Yisa Omogbehin, said the command wanted to facilitate trade, adding that with the establishment of a free trade zone in Quits Aviation, it would make Customs dream come true.
She said: “We are glad that we have a free trade zone here. There are always bottlenecks everywhere and these are some of the things that we want to find out why there are bottlenecks and to eliminate those bottlenecks. Anywhere NEPZA is overseeing that place automatically becomes a free trade zone and that is the message I am taking to the Glass House (Customs headquarters) and talk with the Area Comptroller, and ensure we address those issues. Definitely, there cannot be two area comptrollers who will process documents. The old comptroller and I will try as much as possible to make sure that things are done correctly.”
