From Uche Usim, Abuja
To boost trade facilitation and revenue generation, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it is deepening talks with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) and Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) to improve operations at all Nigeria’s free trade zones.
The acting Customs Comptroller General, Adewale Adeniyi, at the weekend, hosted the managements of NEPZA to seek to review the mutual concerns of all the agencies about the future of trade in the country, assuring that Customs, as one of the pillars of the free zone scheme, will continue to work in line with the standard trade facilitation policies to attract a seamless opportunity for businesses to invest in the free zones scheme.
The acting CGC, however, assured the two agency heads of Customs commitment to work together with them.
“We need to constitute a joint committee between us and some relevant stakeholders to address our common concerns.”
In his remarks, the Director, NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesoba, said that he was personally elated with the way the CGC addressed them and expressed readiness to work assiduously towards achieving their target of improving Free Trade Zones.
On his part, the Managing Director of OGFZA, Tijjani Yahya Kaura, described the collaboration between the Free Trade Zones and Nigeria Customs as necessary, adding that “our meeting with the CG is fruitful, as it revolves around proffering solutions to our common issues, and I am happy that the acting CGC is committed to addressing them.”
The organisations believed their coming together could be a ‘win-win’ situation that would change the narrative of Free Trade Zones in Nigeria and attract investors to Nigerian shores.