Vice President Namadi Sambo has said the turnaround time of ships in Nigerian ports has improved tremendously.

According to Sambo, ships now spent less time at the nation’s ports situated in Lagos, Calabar, Warri, Onne, Port Harcourt and Sapele.

In a message to commemorate the 60th anniversary celebration and inauguration of the permanent national secretariat of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in Lagos, Sambo also said the cost of doing business in Nigerian ports was no longer high as it used to be in the past.

The vice president, whose message was delivered by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Services, Mr Olugbenga Oyewole, noted that the introduction of Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had assisted in reducing the time which ships spent while waiting to discharge cargoes.

He said: “The co-operation of customs and other government agencies led to the tremendous change in port operations. This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that clearing agents will be moved out of the ports.”

He noted that the NCS was tasked to recover N1.2 trillion out of N4 trillion expected to be generated from all government’s revenues in 2014.

Sambo enjoined NCS to recognise and regulate the activities of ship chandlers at the port so that their services can be in line with international standards and practices.

In his remarks at the occasion the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Audu Umar, lauded ANLCA for the effective role it played in the establishment of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).

According to Umar, who was also represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Marine Operations, Alhaji Tahiru Bala, the celebration of 60 years by the association was a landmark achievement. The federal government was aware of its contribution to revenue collection.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi said the 60th anniversary of ANLCA indicated that the association had come of age as a strong institution in the trade facilitation chain.

“The commissioning of the association’s permanent secretariat also symbolises its bold determination to establish ANLCA as a professional body. The NCS wishes to identify with you on this occasion and reaffirm our commitment to partner with you in attaining professionalism. We note with satisfaction the co-operation which customs has enjoyed from ANLCA over the years, particularly under the leadership of Olayiwola Shittu,” he said.

Abdullahi said the service had recorded tremendous progress in the implementation of its six-point agenda even as he pointed out that NCS had trained over 15,000 Customs officers in core areas of customs operations on tariff classification, valuation, enforcement and e-Customs.

National President of ANLCA, Shittu in his welcome address said it was the generous contribution of the CGC and his friends that helped the project come alive.

His words: “I cannot but mention with gratitude from my mind what the CGC contributed towards the success of this dream. When I whispered to him that we needed a permanent national secretariat, because I told him we could not continue paying rent, he said he had heard and I also told DCG Tahir about the dream and he told me not to worry.

“But when it was dragging and I called DCG Tahir, he said I should not worry but, one day I went on an official visit and the CGC asked me to give some people in his office my card, I thought it was for bills of laden to start falling, but I never knew it was the beginning of the realisation of this dream.

“That was when the friends of CGC Dikko laid the foundation of this place by generous contributions. The man is a man with magic wand and I am happy that I became the president during his tenure.”

Shittu, who is also the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Skelas Limited, stated that the actualisation of the project was the collective efforts of all members of ANLCA.

According to him, every member contributed in no small measure to make the project a reality.

He promised to work on a book on the evolution of ANLCA, where the contributions of its members over the years, will be appropriately captured for posterity’s sake.