Licensed customs agents want SON removed from issuance of PAAR  

Members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) say the recent attachment of Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment (SONCAP) to issuance of Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) is hampering trade facilitation in Nigeria.

According to ANLCA, the development is particularly hindering trade as it now takes long time for SON, an agency of government responsible for the activation of the PAAR code, to do that.

As a result of the delay, the members of ANLCA want the Federal Government to revert to old method of ensuring that good exported meet the minimum safety requirements.

Leke Abejide, a Kano-based licensed customs agent, made the position of the association on the issue known at an interface held with the representative of the Comptroller-General of Customs in Kano on Wednesday.

“The recent attachment of SONCAP to issuance of PAAR is inimical to trade facilitation. SON is not only agency of government on a single window, and view of its involvement is a major disadvantage to development of trade.

“It hinders trade facilitation because it takes more time to give code to activate PAAR, even after the agent/importer made payments, collect receipts of payments from the SON office, and scan to Lagos.

“For us operating in the Northern part of the country, at times, it takes more than one week, and this implies that container will be lying at the terminal during this period due to inability to get the mandatory PAAR,” Abejide said.

Also, the introduction of PAAR has in no way improved the revenue generation capacity of the Nigeria Customs Service, which makes it imperative for it review, he said.

“The involvement of SON is also creating congestion at the port because containers are being delayed unnecessarily waiting for ‘SON activated code,’ which is a condition that is required before Customs issuance of PAAR.

“This delay is in the same view causing demurrage for importers, as well as increase in the cost of clearance because of the prolong period it takes to clear the imported goods from the port.

“The worst of all is that it reduces the rate at which revenue should be generated to the Federation Account by the NCS because containers that supposed to be cleared within a week for another set to come in are left at the port due to lack of PAAR caused by the delay in getting SON procedure completed,” he further said.

Responding to the issue, John Atte, deputy comptroller-general of Customs, who stood in for the CGC, disclosed that the new leadership of the service would soon meet with other stakeholders with the intention of reconsidering the programme