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NIGERIA’S EXPERIENCE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WTO

TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT

PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES

PRESENTATION BY AZAREMA ABDULKADIR, COMPTROLLER OF CUSTOMS, NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICE, TO THE 1ST AFRICAN UNION CUSTOMS EXPERTS FORUM ON TRADE FACILITATION IN AFRICA, HELD INBRAZZAVILLE, CONGO, 19-21 AUGUST, 2015.

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NATIONAL TRADE POLICY AND TRADE FACILITATIONIN NIGERIA

The need for Nigeria to monitor and evaluate performance of its national trade policy, coupled with the obligation of negotiating the WTO Trade Facilitation measures and their implementation, initiated the formation of an inter-ministerial committee on domestic trade and other multilateral trade matters in year 2002, named the ENLARGED NATIONAL FOCAL POINT (ENFP). From the ENFP, a SUB-COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION was formed to coordinate activities of the WTO Trade Facilitation and address issues of encumbrances in both domestic and international trade.

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FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION IN NIGERIA

In year 2010, a NATIONAL TASK FORCE COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION in Nigeria was formed, in line with the then negotiating legal text of Article 23.2 of the WTO TF measures. This was done by expanding membership of the Sub-committee on TF of the ENPF by bringing in more relevant stakeholders in trade to facilitate domestic coordination and implementation of the TF measures.

The Task Force Committee later changed its name to NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION in year 2014, in conformity with the current legal text of the TF Agreement. The Ministry of Trade is the Chair, while the Nigeria Customs Service is the Vice-chair. The official e-mail address is directortrade@yahoo.co.uk

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MEMBERSHIP OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATION IN NIGERIA

The National Committee on Trade Facilitation in Nigeria has 21 membership drawn from relevant Government Agencies and the Organized Private Sector.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES MEMBERSHIP1. Ministry of Trade - (Chair)2. Nigeria Customs Service - (Vice-chair)3. Ministry of Finance4. Ministry of Transport5. Central Bank of Nigeria6. Nigerian Ports Authority7. Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria8. Nigeria Shippers Council

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GOVERNMENT AGENCIES MEMBERSHIP (Cont’d)

9. Nigeria Maritime Administr & Safety

Agency

10. National Agency for Food & Drugs

11. Standards Organization of Nigeria

12. Nigeria Export Promotion Council

13. Nigeria Export Import Bank

14. Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service

15. Nigeria Immigration Service

16. Nigeria Police Force

17. Federal Roads Safety Commission.

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PRIVATE SECTOR MEMBERSHIP

1. Manufacturers Association Of Nigeria.

2. Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture.

3. National Association of Nigerian Traders.

4. National Association of Clearing & Forwarding Agents.

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MANDATE OF THE TRADE FACILITATION COMMITTEE

In order to be guided and well focused in its activities, the TF Committee was given two main mandates by the Minister of Trade in year 2010:

I. Mapping national positions on the WTO Trade Facilitation negotiations in line with Nigeria’s Trade Policy;

II. Facilitating the process of implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

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IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT IN NIGERIA

In planning for effective implementation of the WTO TFA, Nigeria has tried to address some critical issues of transparency, free flow of trade, provision of infrastructure and capacity building:

1. Provision of Necessary Infrastructure

Customs has established a Single Window system for interface with trade stakeholders and created e-payment facilities 24/7;

The TF Committee has encouraged TF related agencies to provide TF infrastructure and ICT facilities for interface with the Customs SW system for single processing and single release of trade documents on one platform;

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Infrastructure (Cont’d)

> Customs has deployed scanners in major sites for non-intrusive inspection of goods;

> The Committee has urged regulatory agencies to ensure functionality of their testing laboratories for effective test of products for conformity to standards.

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IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TFA (Cont’d)

2. Addressing Issues of Government Regulations:

> The TF Committee is working to eliminate all

regulatory controls that are at variance with the TFA;

> The Committee is working to harmonize similar

regulatory controls of government agencies;

> The Committee is working towards eliminating

multiple taxation to create a harmonized tax system

and removal of unwanted levies;

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IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TFA (Cont’d)

3. Transparency and Publication of Information:> Nigeria Customs has established a Trade Hub portal to provide trade information by all stakeholders in trade, accessible 24/7 at www.nigeriatradehub.gov.ng;

> The Customs has also made some relevant trade information available to the trading public on its web site, www.customs.gov.ng;

> The Customs has established Help Desks as inquiry points and complaint centres at headquarters and other formations for traders’ access at www.helpdesk.customs.gov.ng;

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Transparency and Publication of Information (Cont’d)

> Engagement of traders like manufacturers association and chamber of commerce for opinions on new or amended laws.> The TF Committee has formed action plans and timelines on matters concerning implementation of the TFA.

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IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TFA (Cont’d)

4. Reducing Cost and Time in Movement of Trade:

> The TF Committee has conducted business process

analysis for government agencies to reduce

administrative bottlenecks and overlapping

functions;

> It has harmonized and streamlined clearance

procedures and documentation in line with the WCO

data model;

> Customs has established a Pre-arrival processing

procedure for risk management analysis, thereby

creating opportunity for importers to make declarations

before arrival of their goods;

> Customs clearance process is currently paperless

with four clearance channels, green, blue, yellow and

red;

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Reducing Cost and Time (Cont’d)

> Customs has established a Post Clearance Audit

Unit for ensuring compliance with rules and

regulations and recovery of any unpaid duties and

taxes after release of goods;

> The TF Committee is collaborating with the Police

to ensure maintenance of only 3 checkpoints at 40km

radius of border posts, in line with ECOWAS Protocol;

> Conducting public sensitization for traders on

trade facilitation measures, practices & standards, and

the need for proper and honest declarations to

save time on queries.

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IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TFA (Cont’d)

5. Self Assessment and Category ‘A’ Commitments:> Nigeria had conducted Self Assessment of Needs and Priorities in 2008 and May 2013 to determine the strong and weak areas for implementing the TFA;

> Organized a workshop in November 2013 to review outcome of the May 2013 Self Assessment and then categorized its commitments into ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ for implementation;

> Organized two other workshops in April and July 2014 for review of the Category ‘A’ commitments and then submitted it to the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria (FEC) in September 2014 for ratification;

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Self Assessment and Category ‘A’ (Cont’d)

> After ratification of the Category ‘A’ Commitments by the FEC, Nigeria submitted it to the WTO in November 2014 for implementation of the TFA;

> Currently, Nigeria is working on the Instrument of Acceptance with the Ministry of Justice for submission to the WTO soon.

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6. Capacity Building:

> Identifying areas requiring capacity building for

stakeholders, particularly in understanding the

general concept of the TFA;

> Seeking for assistance from donor agencies for

capacity building;

> USAID and IMF have trained Customs officials and

Tax Authority personnel on risk management in

2014 and 2015, respectively, to learn to focus

controls on high risk goods and to quickly release

the low risk ones.

> GIZ has been helping Nigeria in trade related

matters to conduct meetings, conferences, seminars

and foreign trips.

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CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TFA

Some government agencies were skeptical about issues of inter-agency cooperation and collaboration for fear of loosing their statutory duties to other agencies;

Critical agencies that have not yet developed their ICT system for interaction on the Customs SW portal and the Trade Hub are hindering the speedy clearance of goods and hence implementation of the TFA;

Only few agencies were able to publish their trade information on the net or establish Help Desks for the trading public, thereby leaving gaps for obtaining complete trade information;

A lot of consignments are being selected to physical inspection by the Customs system due to demands by regulatory control agencies for their checks;

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CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING THE WTO TFA (Cont’d)

Some provisions of the TFA like acceptance of copies of supporting documents, use of customs brokers and rejected goods are still pending cases in Nigeria, which no final decisions have been taken for their implementation;

Lack of capacity and skills on modern practices by personnel of many agencies who do not understand the concept of the WTO TFA substantially;

Lack of a permanent Secretariat, means of mobility and funding has left the Ministry of Trade to seek for assistance, most times from GIZ for meetings, workshops and seminars.

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WAY FORWARD

Greater engagement of the donor agencies for more capacity building for trade stakeholders;

More sensitization for stakeholders in trade for better understanding of the TFA measures, practices and standards;

Collaboration with the Parliament for proper understanding of the TFA to enact appropriate legal framework;

Adopting relevant WCO tools and instruments, like the framework of standards and data models for simplification and harmonization of customs procedures;

Encourage interconnectivity of customs system within regions and establishment of joint border posts between neighbouring countries for free flow of trade.

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