New Tincan Island Port needs strategic reforms – Custom boss

The newly posted Customs Area Controller (CAC) at the Tincan Island Port, in Lagos, Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi has called for cooperation and stakeholders support in the discharge of his duties.

Addressing journalist, he said since his redeployment from the Office of the Comptroller General of Customs to Tincan Island Port on February 1, 2018, he has been meeting with critical stakeholders in the port business to assure then of the resolve of his command to deepen ease of doing business with enduring partnerships.

Musa said that part of his key mandates includes trade facilitation, driving of seamless ease of doing business, provision of coordinating roles in port operations and strict maintenance of national security at the ports.

He said the Command will continue to maintain lead in revenue generation which remains a core function of the Customs, noting that out of the N354bn revenue target for 2018, the Command had already recorded N62bn and hopes to beat the target before year end.

Joined the Service as a Cadet Officer in 1990, the Niger State-born Mining Engineer had undergone several trainings in Valuation and Classification, a core duty of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

Continuing, he revealed as part of his effective takeoff of Customs operational activities, he has set up a rare department called Import and Export Dispute Resolution with him as the chairman and the PRO as Deputy, saying henceforth, no reported dispute can last beyond six hours or at most one day in the command.

He assured that his command will work towards harmonization of valuation to tame the incidents of disagreements during vehicle clearing at the port.

According to him, the idea is to improve ease of doing and grow trade facilitation.

He assured to improve activities in import valuation which had been a serious issue in the port business over the years.

The new CAC also assured of regular training and re-training of officers in the areas of core functions of the Services from time to time and may in some training, invite media executives as resource persons.