The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved $3.1 billion for the end-to-end automation of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, at the end of the 14th virtual FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
She said the funds would be sourced solely by the concessionaires who would be in charge of the project for 20 years.
The minister said the federal government targets $176 billion revenue generation from the project.
She said the project would enable the complete automation of the NCS processes and procedures using the application and information and technology in all aspects.
“The main objective of the project is to completely automate every aspect of the customs business and to institutionalize the use of smart and emerging technologies that will enhanced the statutory function of the Nigerian Customs Service in the areas of revenue generation as well as trade facilitation and enhancement of security,” she said.
The minister said the PPP group approved for the project are led by Messers Y Technologies with four other members.
“The committee that led this process also looked at the National Trade Impact process that has been going on for years and confirmed that the Nigerian e-customs project is a subset of the National Trade Impact and would prefer the Nigerian Customs to play it’s led role in the national trading platform.
“The Bionica Technologies West Africa Limited, Bargain Securities and Supplies Nigeria Limited, these are lead sponsor and co-sponsor. We also have The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as the lead financier and Huawei Technology as a technical service provider.
“So, council today ratified Mr. President’s approval for the PPP concession for a 20-year period to Messers E. Customs HC Project Limited as a concessionaire for the delivery of customs modernization project.
“This is a project that will not have an immediate cost to the government, the investors are providing all of the financing and this revenue will be deployed in three phases and they will look over the investment in the concessionary period of 20 years.
“The key point is that it is not costing the federal government one thing, the $3.1 billion being proposed will be sourced by the sponsors and the partners,” she said.
The minister said the Nigeria Customs Service currently has some level of automation services.
“This is an end to end automation of all of Nigeria’s Customs Service processes and it’s going to bring huge value to the country.
“So, this investment of $3.1 billion is broken down into capital investment of $1.2 billion which will be done in three phases over 36 months by these investors and $1.1 billion is our projection of the operational cost over the 20-year period of the implementation of this project.
“This project has the potential to yield up to $176 billion of revenue for the project and the consortia that are providing this investment are going to be paid over time according to the schedule that is negotiated for their investments including their profits and cost.
“So, this is the best possible way for Nigeria to roll out important capital project using funds from the private sector and providing service for the use of Nigerian people and the government,” she said.
When implemented, the e-Customs Project would encompass, among other things, the deployment of e-Customs Production Applications including Production Applications include e-Clearance, e-Port System, Risk Control Centre (RCC), Logistics Management System (LMS), Electric Cargo Tracking System (ECTS), Intelligent Gate (i -Gate) and Mobile Enforcement (ME).
