Trade facilitation: No collaboration among agencies at the ports —SON

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has expressed worries over what it says is the lack of cooperation among government agencies at the seaports, saying that complete automation will ease the cost of doing business.

The SON also added that without total automation by the agencies operating at the ports, clearance of cargo within 24 hours as directed by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo cannot be achieved.

Head, e-Clearance Unit of SON, Mr Olalekan Omoniyi, had while speaking with newsmen recently in Lagos, shortly after a sensitisation programme organised by the agency, noted that the examination carried out by agencies  of government was cumbersome, stressing the need to streamline the process to aid trade facilitation.

According to him, SON’s operations have been fully automated and the current challenges faced by the agencies have to do with independent operations by sme agencies at the ports. The unit head lamented that agencies without full automation had affected clearance and examination process at the ports.

“While the Customs, NAFDAC and SON are automated, all other agencies are not necessarily automated and if some of these agencies are automated while others are not, it would definitely drag the process of clearing goods backwards and it is when all are automated, that we can synchronise our operations,” Mr.Omoniyi lamented.

He called for a centralised portal where consignments can be treated and examined at once, saying it would ease the reduction of time taken in examination at the ports and enhance the speedy clearance of goods.

“A centralised portal will introduce transparency and with transparency in place there will be no issue during examination of consignments at the ports.

“This, again, will also facilitate trade, and there must be a central portal for clearance and releasing of consignments because physical clearance might seem good on paper but in reality, a lot needs to be done to achieve this process”, Omoniyi added.