The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has dismissed and rejected insinuations that the newly launched National Single Window project by federal government is a failure on arrival or a project programmed to fail from the outset.
The National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Dr. Abdullahi Maiwada, stated this at the Second National Seminar of the Media Anti-Corruption Initiative, organized in conjunction with Hynek Media in Lagos on Wednesday.
The national image maker of the service was represented at the event by Superintendent of Customs, SC Juliana Destiny Tomo.
Addressing the concern, SC Juliana Destiny Tomo mnipr said: while reacting on some of the comments on the possible failure of the NSW project, said:
“My CGC, who was a PR person, before becoming the Comptroller-General of Customs. I want to believe that if he had sat here this morning and listen to hear that there was a pre-planned agenda to fail in the single window project, he will want to say something and that’s why I became restless.”
He stressed that the Nigeria Customs Service has never anticipated the project to be a failure. “The Nigeria Customs Service is not anticipating that the national single window project to be a failure or by any of the parties involved in it,” the Customs said.
Giving background on previous efforts by the service, he added: “For the national single window project, the Nigeria Customs Service in 2013 had a programme such as national single window. And of course, that national single window was what brought about what is called the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report, PAAR and of course, we later had what was also called Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System, NICIS I & II and that equally brought about B’Odogwu.”
“So, we the Nigeria Customs Service as a revenue generating agency arm of the federal government, we are not anticipating any failure of this national single window project. And I don’t want to believe that any other government agency in this single window project would have such plan,” the service assured maritime stakeholders.
Comparing Nigeria with other countries that have implemented the system, the Customs representative said: “But the fact remains that developing countries such as Nigeria, yes, we are still developing. There is no harm in trying. We are trying to grow and we are trying to develop.”
Meanwhile, the NCS called on the general public to also disregard the allegation that the NSW is a duplication of the B’Odogwu, the Customs Modernisation project.
She informed that NSW is a system that encoporates all the agencies, ministries and stakeholders while the B”Odogwu is the customs platform for revenue collection.
Reiterating his earlier point, SC Tomo added: “My CGC was the national image maker of the service before he became the present Comptroller-General of Customs. I want to believe this morning that if he is seated here this morning and listen to the talk that there was a preplanned agenda to fail the single window project… I know he will want to say something. And that is why I am restless here and wanted to say something.”
Speaking earlier while welcoming the participants , Mr Lucky Ogueri Dilichukwu Onyeji (Lod-O), the Project Coordinator, Media Anti-Corruption Initiatives (MACI) said the theme of the seminar on “National Single Window: Strategies to Avert Failure” it came at the right time,” he said.
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