The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has commenced the prelaunch of the ‘B’Odogwu’ trade facilitation tool in Apapa and Tincan Island commands to boost trade.
The Comptroller General of the NCS, Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, told journalists in Apapa, Lagos, during a stakeholder engagement that the stakeholders support is needed for the platform to work efficiently.
He explained that B’Odogwu is an indigenous trade facilitation platform developed by the NCS to replace the existing Nigerian Integrated Customs Information System II.
According to him, the initiative is expected to modernise customs operations, improve efficiency in trade documentation, and enhance revenue collection.
He stated that the pre-launch is coming following the success of its pilot phase at the Ports & Terminal Multipurpose Limited Command earlier this year.
Mr. Adeniyi said that the deployment was a pre-launch phase rather than full implementation, given the scale of the Apapa and Tincan commands.
“With your cooperation, with your support and understanding, we will together address all those challenges. I need to bring your memories back to sometime in 2013-2014; we walked this same route together,” he said.
He explained that the platform replaces the old system, “with a more robust and indigenous solution taking into consideration the frustrations associated with previous customs management platforms.”
GIK/APA