Market News
Customs target two-hour cargo clearance at Tincan Island - PUNCH
BY Anozie Egole
The Nigeria Customs Service, Tincan Island Command, said that the full implementation of the B’Odogwu System at the command will reduce cargo clearance to about two hours.
Speaking with some journalists at the command on Thursday, the Customs Area Controller of the command, Frank Onyeka, said the application is glitch-free, hence would ease the difficulties in cargo clearance and facilitate trade.
Onyeka urged importers and clearing agents to always be honest with their declarations.
“When B’Odogwu comes to Tincan and you declare appropriately, you can move your goods in two hours. Because B’Odogwu is ours, B’Odogwu is fresh, B’Odogwu is network glitch-free,” Onyeka said.
The CAC mentioned that the command is already engaging in massive sensitisation of stakeholders and training of appropriate personnel.
“Sensitisation is ongoing, and we believe that once we can spread that good news, we will get more people on board. We did a practical exam here for them to know the right buttons to press. Obviously, for things that are starting, it is not automatic. We are bound to have challenges, and those challenges are what we are trying to address,” the CAC said.
According to him, the problem is that agents are changing from what they consider to be the norm, “to something about to be perfect, and it will take a while. So we are there sensitising them and we are getting good news.”
Meanwhile, Onyeka said the command generated an impressive N145bn in revenue in the month of April 2025, representing a significant increase from the N95.7bn collected in the same period in April 2024.
He added that the command has already generated N27bn in revenue for May 2025.
The Comptroller, however, admitted that the level of compliance at the Tincan port is increasing drastically.
“And that is why we are not having many seizures, because they are not coming our way,” he added.
Earlier, the President of the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Moses Ebosele, who led the delegation, commended the CAC for his open-door policy, adding that members of SCAN are guided by the ethics of the profession.
