Nigeria Customs Signs Agreement With Chinese Counterpart To Boost Trade And Economic Stability

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Nigeria Customs Service is upbeat that  the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with its Chinese counterpart, has the potentials of fostering bilateral relationships and enhancing trading  activities between the two countries.

The Comptroller General, NCS,  Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, who signed the MoU on behalf of the Service when he led a delegation of NCS management to a  meeting with the General Administration of Customs of the Peoples Republic of China on Wednesday May 8,2024 in Shenzhen, emphasised the importance and expected gains of the MoU, particularly in boosting import/export operations between China and Nigeria.

A statement issued on Sunday May 12, by the spokesperson of NCS Aliyu Maiwada, also quoted the CGC as expressing the optimism that the agreement will  impact hugely on the growth of MSMEs in Nigeria.

Adeniyi, according to the statement, appreciated the Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs of Peoples  Republic of China, Wang Lingjun, for showing interest in signing the MoU with the NCS, while, also, lauding the rise in the development of e-commerce.

“We know a lot of Nigerian Companies and SMEs take advantage of the opportunities aided through e-commerce” Adeniyi noted .

The Nigeria Customs boss further expressed strong confidence that the NCS-GACC memorandum of Understanding will serve as a critical component of cooperative security and trade relationship between the two countries .

“The relationship will create a cooperative mechanism for NCS and the GACC to collaborate on supply chain security standards and enhance the economic stability of both countries .

“These are some of the many reasons why Nigeria Customs Service pays attention to what is happening in China. As you have said ,China is making the biggest trade in Nigeria ,and the basic context of international Trade is “Your export is our import”

“I appreciate the numbers that you gain in  Nigeria. But ,it is also common knowledge that those numbers sometimes must take account of the large volume of informal trade that exist between us ” Adeniyi stated .

Mr Wang Lingjun ,expressed satisfaction over CGC Adeniyi’s vision that the affiliation between the two agencies will serve as a mechanism for creating opportunities that Nigeria and China share on a wide range of economic issues and trade facilitations.