NigerianFLIGHTDECK Travel and Business Reportage
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Quits Aviation Services Limited, Sam Iwuajoku has said setting up a new command of the Nigerian Customs at the Quits Aviation Services Free Trade Zone, FTZ, centre is a move that would cut off all unnecessary red tape that increases process time for importation and exportation of goods.
This is just as he decried some of the multiple checks by customs officers on the road after inspections must have been carried out in the ports saying that these are some antics that discourage business
Speaking at the commissioning of the new command, Iwuajoku said the command will deal majorly with spares of aircraft on ground ( AOG) and those parts are needed urgently as the command will expedite its processes.
He stated that bureaucracy was one of the major challenges faced by businesses utilising the terminals and this cost them time but with the establishment of the command the red tape would be cut.
According to him, in the past, when goods came in and the bill of laden comes in, the organisation usually writes to Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, and NEPZA then writes to the MMA Customs command.
This he said created further bureaucracy and
something that is supposed to take one hour or even 30 minutes to process, will take a day or four days.
He said, “This delay creates huge losses for us as well as companies that want to move their goods. Sometimes the delay causes damage to perishable goods. The major problems we have at both Tincan ports are caused by human factors.
“I do not see any reason why a container will arrive in Nigeria’s ports and the Customs will inspect the goods and conclude every necessity, and when it gets out of the port, another unit of customs will stop it and start another inspection.
“When you go to some countries, something that is supposed to take 30 minutes, takes days in Nigeria. It is discouraging and that is why in Nigeria we are losing investors, they rather go to Ghana where they will not get all this ‘red tape’. In Nigeria, we are causing ourselves problems.
“These are the challenges we have in the country, and all this adds to the cost of doing business here.
“Setting up a Customs command here cuts off all this ‘red tape’, so we will no longer experience those issues.
“We deal majorly with spare parts for aircraft that are on ground, those parts are needed urgently. With the command here, it expedites our processing and results and everything. This is a very welcome development for us and Nigeria at large.”
On her part, the Controller FTZ, Customs, Yisa Omogbehin, said: “We are glad that we have a free trade zone here.
“Our vision is to facilitate trade in Nigeria, and we believe this will help us achieve it going forward.”
Quits Aviation FTZ accommodates enterprises like ExecuJet Aviation Nig. FZE, Legend Hotel (Hilton Collections), Anap Jets, Gyro Air, amongst others.