Cargo clearance: Time Release Study ready in September — Customs
The Customs Area Controller, CAC Tin Can Island Port, TCIP Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Comptroller Dera Nnadi, has revealed that the Time Release Study, TRS, would be ready and unveiled to the international trade community in September this year.
Speaking at a media briefing to announce TCIP command’s activities for the Half Year 2024 in Lagos, Nnadi who is supervising the ongoing TRS said his officers and men encountered several challenges during the course of the study.
He explained that TCIP was chosen for the TRS because of the delay in cargo release which the port was already known for.
He however noted that there has been a significant improvement since after the clearing of the port access roads and reactivation of night operation at the Tincan port.
He said all agencies in the port and captains of industry who made up the country’s National Trade Facilitation Committee are involved in the study which is expected to establish shorter period for release of goods from the port and improve cargo turnaround time significantly.
He said: “We had challenges in carrying out the TRS and the biggest challenge was apathy on the side of port users. The port is a very dynamic environment and people are always in a hurry to clear their goods. So, it is extremely difficult to have them respond to questionnaires.
“But we had to be very creative to get the responses of the importers. We had to organise meetings both physical and on Zoom in other to get the importers and clearing agents involvement in the study.
“We were given a target of 600 respondents but we had to increase the number to 1,000 because Nigeria is a big country. We needed to ensure that we are able to cover an extensive sample large enough to fairly represent the population of the international trade community in Nigeria.”
