As part of drive to acquaint men and officers of Tincan Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), full automation and computerization of customs processes and procedures ahead of automation of NICIS II, the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf has flagged off ICT training.
The Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System II (NICIS II) training is aimed at equipping participants with; Overview of NICIS; Awareness of NICIS Operations; Knowledge on how to access the NICIS applications.
Others are familiarizations on user profile menus elements, knowledge on user’s ID maintenance, introductions to different NICIS reports and NICIS applications technical knowhow.
While decaling the training open, Yusuf admonished participants to take advantage of the training to improve their capacity and competence in the discharge of their functions.
He explained that the course curriculum was carefully articulated to cover vast areas in the 21st Century Customs Operations in line with the WCO standard and noted that the training became imperative so as to prepare officers/men on the anticipated (NICIS II) which is coming as an advancement to NICIS 1 as a major tool for facilitation of legitimate trade.
He highlighted the importance of ICT to 21st Century Customs Operations and charged participants to remain focused towards acquiring the needed skills that will aid a quick comprehension of the provisions of (NICIS II).
He thanked the Comptroller General, Hameed Ali for approving his request to send resource persons from the Customs Headquarters for the training programme.
NICIS training activity aims to provide participants with; Familiarization with different trade transaction documents; Familiarization on how to view transaction documents; Familiarization with the use of the document finder operation; and Similarly, the NICIS IRIS presentation was aimed at providing participants with; Knowledge on how to use NICIS IRIS module, knowledge on how to use NICIS IRIS operations to generate a report.
Continuing, he said the training provides a template for chief examiners to be proactive such that cases of infractions could be detected and appropriate sanctions applied.
Meanwhile, the Area Controller has reiterated his commitment towards the actualization of the core mandates of the command. He pointed out that training and re-training of his personnel have resulted in the high revenue being generated by the command despite the low volume of cargo traffic. He stated further that his resort to practical stakeholder engagement have provided an opportunity for the exchange of quality opinions between the command and the various stakeholders for the actualization of official optimal results. The controller charged the trading public to ensure honest declarations and stated that the Service will continue to facilitate legitimate trade in line with global best practices. “It is the wish of the Area Controller to sustain our benchmark rating, especially in relation to the achievements of last year, when the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim
Ali sent four different commendation letters to the Command in recognition/appreciation of the great strides and milestones recorded in the command. He has stated repeatedly that there will be no room for complacency and that is why he has been engaging the Chief Examiners, Releasing Officers and O/C Terminals to ensure that all areas of Revenue leakages are identified and blocked. We also call on patriotic Nigerians to oblige us with reliable information that will help in enhancing our capacity to deliver on our mandates”.
