ABUJA: The Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi disclosed that the implementation of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) increased revenue receipts into the federation and non-federation accounts by N167.70 billion to N997.09 billion in 2014 compared to N833.39 billion the previous year.
Speaking in Abuja at the opening of the 2015 International Customs Day tagged: ‘Coordinated Boarder Management: An Inclusive Approach for Connecting
Stakeholders,’ he said PAAR, which is a new clearance procedure had “equally delivered on the promise of generating revenue to government,” adding that: “In 2014, we received 291,146 applications, out of which a total of 273, 148 was issued.”
He said in its conception and implementation, PAAR represented a bold statement in forging an all inclusive approach to stakeholder management.
According to him: “Within the first year anniversary of PAAR, we have succeeded in bringing all stakeholders together in the management of international trade.
Exporters, importers, duty collection banks, customs agents, DTI operators, terminal operations, shippers, air carriers as well as other partners agencies of government are all connected to the PAAR platform.”
Abdullahi said the 2015 celebration coincided with the milestones anniversary of the PAAR which had been a tool for inclusive approach for connecting all stakeholders in the management of International trade.
Also speaking at the occasion, Secretary-General, World Customs Organisation (WCO), Mr. Kunio Mikuriya said through the coordinated border management (CBM) concept, customs administrations tasked to actively promote the partnerships the have built to improve and expedite border processing.
He said boarder agencies must work together for the common good despite varying regulatory mandates, as CBM results in better service delivery, less duplication, cost-savings through economies of scale, fewer but targeted interventions, cheaper transport costs, less waiting times, low infrastructure improvement cost, wider sharing of information and intelligence, and strengthened connectivity between all boarder stakeholders.
He added that applying the principles of CBM would enable the multiple public service functions undertaken at boarders to be delivered more successfully, leading in turn to an improved investment climate, an enhanced trading environment, as well as increased economic growth.
Mikuriya noted that under the umbrella of the WCO, customs administrations have produced numerous instruments and tools to support better CBM as the Revised Kyoto Convention contained several standards that specifically dealt with CBM including coordinating boarder opening hours, performing joint controls, and setting up juxtaposed customs offices-all of which facilitate trade and offer technical guidance for improvements in respective domains.
He said integrating the stand-alone boarder agency systems into one unified single widow system was a core CBM principle as the Single Window Compendium provides guidance to Customs on the policy, legal, and technology elements.
