A sensitization program has been organized by the Nigeria Customs Service centred on harmonization of the Customs processes and procedures in the Free Trade Zone.
Addressing stakeholders at the conference room in Apapa Command, Lagos, Deputy Comptroller General of Customs in charge of Excise, Free Trade Zone and Industrial Incentives Kathleen Ekekezie said, the mandate to harmonise the collection of Customs duty on goods processed, manufactured and remodelled in the free trade zones which are destined for Customs territory is a promise kept by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd).
“The CGC has pledged to automate all Customs procedures in the ongoing modernization project. We started this journey in 1998 and have gone far, what we are doing for the excise and free trade zone department now is part of it.”
“The norm has been, operators in the Free Trade Zones, pay Customs duty on all the raw materials imported, a flat rate of duty is being paid, we said, no it is wrong, because eventually when the goods are produced, from the raw materials, not all the goods are destined for Customs territory, some will be exported out of Nigeria and like you know, all these are free according to Government rules, that was why we initiated this move to harmonize the collection of Customs duty”
According to DCG Ekekezie, one of the incentives given to investors in the FTZ is that Customs duty will not be paid on the finished goods but on the raw materials imported into the FTZ.
Shedding more light on the review process, the DCG noted that, every process must undergo review, “My thought and yours are not the same, so we will bring our thought to the table and we will harmonize it and review. Through the feedback we are receiving, we will come to a near perfect process, there is nothing that is perfect”.
She also revealed that the next sensitization workshop to be held at the Customs Training College, Ikeja Lagos will be bigger and better to accommodate more stakeholders.
