Single Window project, scanners to be deployed before end of 2020

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council on Wednesday said its call for operationalisation of the National Single Window and deployment of scanners at the nation’s seaports is on a fast track.

The Council made the statement referring to remarks of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, who spoke on Monday at an investigative hearing on the incessant influx of fake, substandard and counterfeit products into the country.

The event was organized by the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Commerce; Industry; Information; National Orientation; Ethics and Values.

The Minister disclosed that  an implementation committee was at work to ensure the single window and scanners were deployed appropriately.

According to him, “this will significantly improve cargo turnaround time at our ports, promote efficiency and transparency, thereby removing the corruption opportunities that fuel the entry of substandard goods into the country thereby enhancing Nigerian ports’ competitiveness in the West African region.”

Earlier in his remarks at the opening of the hearing, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, represented by the Minority Leader at the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, commended the effort of the Joint Committee and expressed hope that the hearing will be a step towards putting an end to the influx of fake counterfeited products into Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the House Committee on Commerce, Hon. Olufemi Fakeye stated that the hearing “will address the challenges of eradicating imported counterfeit products, particularly in view of Nigeria’s commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

With the Single Window, port community portal and functional scanners at the ports, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, who was represented, said PEBEC aims to ensure that only the Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority and Nigerian Police Force would be at Nigeria’s seaports as there would be no need for routine physical examination of cargo by additional agencies at the ports.

Dr. Oduwole said the decision to streamline the operations of agencies at the port was first implemented by the previous administration in 2011, and again reinforced in 2018.

Dr. Oduwole said streamlining agencies’ operations at the port is at the core of Nigeria’s ease of doing business reforms and in line with global best practices aimed at removing bureaucratic constraints and reducing costs to doing business at the ports.