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The Nigeria Customs Service on Tuesday said it was waiting for the National Action Committee (NAC) on the list of duties and charges waived for liberalized goods under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.
A statement from the Serice said: “Sequel to the ratification of AfCFTA by member nations, the Nigeria Customs Service has found it pertinent to inform the public about steps which must be taken to enable it’s smooth and full implementation.
“Instead of proceeding in a chaotic manner, the Nigeria Customs Service as policy implementor understands the importance of spelling out the roles and responsibilities of all parties in this agreement and the conditions attendant on its implementation.
“We wish to re-confirm our willingness and readiness to play our role as trade facilitators in this regard. However, we also wish to remind the public that our functions are highly automated and primarily systems driven. Hence the need to methodically harvest and integrate all data associated with AfCFTA into our system for easy deployment, access and use by the trading public.
“We therefore await the National Action Committee (NAC) on the list of duties and charges waived for liberalized goods under AfCTA.
“The list of the 90% liberalized National Trade Offers.
“The list of 70% Non-liberalized exclusive goods at the regional level.
“The list of 3% Non-Liberalized sensitive goods.
“The 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.”
