As the Nigeria Customs Service prepares for a future without its service providers, collaboration amongst stakeholders has been identified as key to the successful implementation of the single window environment. The single window concept is a system on which the Service will situate all of its future operations and processes. It is a concept aimed at reducing the time and cost of cross-border trade whilst introducing transparency and predictability in the international trade supply chain. Although its stakeholders cut across the private and public sectors, the private sector is the ultimate user and beneficiary of the system. However, the public sector is the provider of the services with some private sector being participants, providing the service to enable the private sector operate international trade. In preparation for the journey ahead, a number of collaborative sensitisation and awareness programmes have been organised by the Nigerian Customs Service to prepare stakeholders and all Nigerians for migration to the new platform. What is crucially needed to achieve this transition is a change management as with any system shift, change management is required. There needs to be a paradigm shift from the norm to a more effective environment. With corruption being the major issue that the new system seeks to eliminate with the reduction of human contact touch points and introduction of IT systems to block leakages, some level of resistance should be anticipated. Experience world over has shown that introducing a new system, particularly automated system, is usually met with resistance, but interestingly, in the case of Nigeria, stakeholder groups have been very receptive and supportive of the concept. This is due to the deployment of various awareness programmes showcasing the benefits inherent in the concept. Facts exist of occasions where the implementation of single window environment around the world had been met with a mixed bag of outcomes. Countries with tales of a successful implementation of the concept such as Thailand, Senegal and Singapore, were countries which had a national drive which translated into political will backed by the necessary awareness creation to get the stakeholders’ buy-in. According to experts, the first step towards implementing the single window environment in a country begins with a national agenda which translates to a national mandate for the implementation of single window environment. The next significant step is to mobilise all stakeholders into the modern world of how to conduct international trade. There also has to be stakeholders’ collaboration at all levels and trust between the public sector and private sectors. Furthermore, building in-country capacity is important to be able to drive, manage and sustain the environment eventually. Also, drawing from the experience of countries that have successfully and totally taken ownership of the environment, organically growing the single window from within has some benefits. A study of such countries showed that after getting the legal backing, the political will and national drive to implement the concept, next is huge investment in empowering all the users, both the public and private sectors to be able to effectively manage the system. In Nigeria, some of such collaborative workshops organised by the NCS includes the national single window stakeholder conference held at the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Auditorium Gwagwalada, with the theme “Collaboration -Towards a Facilitated Trade Environment.” The event was organised in collaboration with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and supported by the WCO, UNECE, ECOWAS and UNECA –ATPC. The high level conference was aimed at increasing the knowledge of representatives from government agencies as well as the private sector stakeholders on the number of issues which are critical to successfully establishing a Single Window environment in Nigeria. Participants in the conference included policy makers, government officials, business managers, analysts, service providers, representatives of international cooperation agencies working in the field of trade facilitation, the academia as well as experts in trade and e- Business. The delegates were taken through the general framework and institutional arrangements for Single Window, best practices and country case studies, international standards for trade facilitation. Other topics included information exchange in global trade, state of the art management concepts for Single Window planning and implementation even as they also had the opportunity to share experience and lessons learned and views. The conference was also followed by a 3-day high level capacity building workshop for participants on business process analysis & data modelling and the change management and stakeholder engagement aspects of paperless trade and Single Window. A similar 2-day conference with the theme: ‘’Single Window Business Process Analysis Workshop’’ was also held at the Customs Command and Service Staff College, Gwagwalada, Abuja as part of the Service’s collaborative efforts to achieve the Single Window concept. The Single window business process analysis workshop was organised for stakeholders involved in the international trade supply chain. The workshop focused on verifying and validating the processes gathered and documented during the Gap Analysis Study and aided the forum to discuss improvement areas to be considered for collaborative harmonisation and streamlining efforts. Apart from these, there have also been a series of sessions organised to gather and document business processes across the stakeholder groups and also to understand the ICT readiness and organisational needs of these stakeholders. Technical working groups have also been set up in the area of business process analysis, ICT, change management and stakeholder engagement and legal framework. These were to ensure that the system organically grows across all the stakeholder groups and be able to achieve the target single window environment vision. Speaking on the side-lines of the national stakeholders’ conference on single window, the Minister of State Finance, Yerima Ngama, commended the management of the Service and the technical staff who are expertly handling the migration from the ASYCUDA system and upgrading to the Single Window portal. He specifically commended the Service technical staff handling the ASYCUDA system for exhibiting such expertise that resulted in the upgrade to Single Window, bringing the Service at par with its counterparts across the world. The Customs boss, Abdullahi Dikko, also used the occasion to appeal to Nigerians to key into the programme. ‘’I want to use this medium to appeal to all Nigerians to be actively involved in supporting this policy which is targeted at revamping our economy,” Dikko said. No doubt, significant progress has been made through various engagements and dialogues with stakeholder groups who on their part have been extremely supportive of the shift to a new era of Customs processes. Therefore, Nigeria having demonstrated all the elements required for the successful implementation of the concept, now looks forward to achieving the benefit of the single window environment.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 19:57:14 +0000
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