CAC of the Seme Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Timi Bomodi.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The recently inaugurated Nigeria-Benin Joint Commission, the various agreements as well as meetings between officials of both countries are bids being made to harmonise fiscal policies and efforts geared towards engendering better trade especially in terms of export from Nigeria, this is part of the view of the Customs Area Controller of the Seme Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Timi Bomodi.
CAC Bomodi was speaking to a few journalists during an interview in his office, he used the opportunity to speak about the performance of his Command since his resumption of duty there in September. He said that as at the time he resumed duty at the Command, the Command had generated a revenue of about One Billion, Seven Hundred Million Naira (#1,700,000,000), but that as at this interview time on Wednesday, the 22nd, the Command had generated over Three Billion, Seven Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (#3,750,000,000), that this has been the result of better compliance to extant laws and the cooperative moves on both sides of the border. He detailed that they have also been able to facilitate about Eight Billion Naira (#8,000,000,000) worth of exports over the period and added that he anticipates more participation by stakeholders in the exportation of goods.
He said that one of his wishes as soon as he resumed duty was the the reduction of the number of check points along the expressway and that this objective has been achieved as the number has been reduced to just 4 points as well as having some patrol vehicles stationed at a few points for proper responses to situations.
CAC of the Seme Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Timi Bomodi.
On cross border trade , he said “We anticipate a future where under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the frequency and volume of trade will increase. The Joint Commission between Nigeria and Benin is geared towards working against multiple taxation on goods moving from the Port of one Country into another and ensuring that items that are prohibited in one country are prohibited in another, but most importantly to enhance the smooth movement of goods between the two Countries without subjecting them to unnecessary delays. We are constantly working on improving the conditions, the processes to eliminate drawbacks and others to enhance trade by making sure that the movement of goods in the Lagos-Abidjan corridor which is the largest in Africa is properly exploited”.
Experts have variously expressed the need for the exploitation of the potentials inherent in doing business among the over Four Hundred and Twenty Eight Million people within the West African sub-region which is the largest trade block in Africa and also expressed optimism that the enormous derivable advantages would be fully realised as trade within the Lagos-Abidjan corridor accounts for about 75% of all trade within the sub-region.
CAC Bomodi noted that recently the European Union and the AFDB have come up with a package of over Fifteen Billion Dollars ($15,000,000,000) to fix infrastructure in order to improve business relationships amongst the Countries within this corridor and gain the full economic benefits derivable from the corridor.
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