Customs awaits report on list of duties, charges for waived goods under AfCFTA

By Tanko Mohammed

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says is waiting for National Action Committee (NAC) on the list of duties and charges waived for liberalised goods under African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The service made this known in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah, on Tuesday in Abuja.

Attah said that the list included the 90 per cent liberalised National Trade Offers and 70 per cent Non-liberalised exclusive goods at the regional level.

He said another list being awaited was the list of three per cent on Non-liberalised sensitive goods.

The public relations officer said another important issue to be addressed was appointment of a competent authority responsible for issuing and authenticating certificates of origin and registering enterprises and products within the region.

“NCS acknowledges the transformational impact this agreement portends for businesses within the continent in general and Nigeria in particular, and are fully committed to its success.

“Further, the Service recommends that each member country should have a representative in the continental Chamber of Commerce to ensure transparency within the body, thereby generating confidence in the system.

“This in our view should be complementary to the activities of the various Chambers of Commerce of each country in the region.

“While awaiting clear directives concerning tariffs for all goods covered by this agreement, we want to assure the public of our preparedness to fully deploy our services at the shortest notice.

“Our desire is to imbue trust in the system while guaranteeing the economic safety and wellbeing of businesses within the country.

“We look with optimism to an era of complete economic integration which will lead to growth and prosperity for businesses within the region,” he stated.

Attah reiterated the willingness and readiness of the service to play its role as trade facilitators in this regard, but reminded the public that customs’ functions were highly automated and primarily systems driven.

He said it was necessary to methodically harvest and integrate all data associated with AfCFTA into the service’s system for easy deployment, access and use by the trading public.