About 80 per cent of imported goods in Nigeria come through the nation’s seaports, the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu has said.
He explained that more than half of Nigerian importers prefer to use the nation’s seaports, especially the ones situated in Lagos to bring in their goods into the country. According to him, this preference by Nigerian importers had given the nation’s seaports an edge over other modes of importation into the country such as the international land borders and the international airports.
However, Odumodu decried Nigerians’ preference for foreign goods, pointing out that this has to change so that the Nigerian economy could thrive. He revealed that it was Nigerians preference for foreign made goods that made Nigeria’s consumption pattern to be about 80 per cent of imported products.
The SON helmsman stated this at an interactive session with journalists in Lagos. Odumodu was represented at the forum by SON Director of Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, Bede Obayi. He used the occasion to announce the integration of SON’s services and certificates into the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS). He stated that the main purpose of NICIS was to primarily drive home SON service delivery capabilities.
Enumerating the benefits of NICIS, he said it covers the critical areas such as itemising HS codes of products regulated by SON for the public to easily confirm if a product is SON’s regulated or not.
According to him, NICIS has provided a list of SON’s documentation requirement before approval can be granted for a regulated product to be imported into Nigeria; converting all SON Certificates/documents required for importation of regulated products to electronic format; provide online and real-time means of transmitting the certificates to the trade portal/NICIS by consignee, with e-product certificate for processing Form ‘M’ and e-SONCAP Certificate for processing Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) using any device such as phones, tablets or PCs at any convenient location; processing of Form M easier as importers with valid e-certificate can simply attach the certificate to their form when processing Form M at the comfort of their homes or offices; as well as eliminating direct contact such as visits to SON office for certification processing.
