Trade Modernisation Project (TMP): Enhance rapid Cargo Clearance at the Nigeria’s Seaports and Airports Captain Tajudeen Alao-President of Nigeria’s Association of Master Mariners disclosed

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– Tajudeen Alao remarked, the creation of the project would equally strengthen Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and enable the nation’s multinational awareness.

Alao in Lagos asserted that, the world had moved beyond conventional methods of doing business with the growth of technology.

He stated: “More than 30 years ago, when Singapore grew from a third-world country to a first-world country, the president, Lee Kuan Yew, led the drive for technology awareness, and now look at where Singapore is today in terms of technology. Nigeria must make more efforts to keep abreast with technological advancements worldwide”.

He furthered, “The establishment of the Trade Modernisation Project would add value in terms of Internally Generated Revenue through improved customs clearance procedures. Consider the time when we had to carry files around; now everything is done through ICT. Nigeria must modernize, and I am glad this initiative is underway. The master mariner emphasised that without trade, growth is impossible and that creating an atmosphere conducive for trade is essential to reap its benefits.”

He asked Nigerians of the huge windfalls that would come after the creation of the Trade Modernisation Project, furthering that master mariners were upgrading themselves globally to retain viral in the maritime industry.

He noted that, the TMP would enhance Nigeria to evolve a shipping centre for West and Central Africa. That terminal operators for upgrading the access corridors at the port and exhorted them to enable other facilities to decrease business processing time.

Ahmed Ogunshola – General Manager of the Trade Facilitation Project, asserted the huge assistances accumulated to a nation when the Customs Modernisation Project (CMP) is fully automated.

The federal government and Trade Modernisation Project Limoted autographed a 20-year Concession Agreement on May 30th, 2022, to provide best-in-class technology for the implementation of paperless customs at the Nigeria Customs operations. Ogunshola noted that TMP was the automation of the business processes of the Nigeria Customs Service.

He explained that, the project would simplify and enable the experience of stakeholders in the trade value chain, making it easy to access import and export clearances, pay duties, and obtain the release of goods.

Ogunshola said that the major advantage of the project was the significant growth in the revenue profile of the federal government. “The project will generate more than 250 billion dollars for the federal government over the life of the concession.

“The project will bring Nigeria to par with the rest of the world, in terms of deploying technology to facilitate international trade.

“The TMP project will give the economic diversification agenda of the federal government a huge boost by providing further ease of cross-border trading.

“By the time the project is fully implemented, it will cover all areas of customs activities, including duties collection, clearance operations and suppression of smuggling,” Ogunshola said.

New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent