• As NBS, Finance Minister, Adeosun Confirm Nigeria currently, is in it’s worst possible time

The first major move was the convention of Stakeholder’s meeting comprising executives of Freight Forwarders, Tincan Island Chapter.  The meeting which was at the instance of the Area Controller, Y.U Bashar, was aimed at identifying  grey areas that could hinder the concept of Trade Facilitation and promotion of international  trade, with a view to proffering solutions.  He was categorical that trade facilitation can be achieved in an atmosphere of honest declaration, which will ultimately allow for a seamless flow of documentation in the system.

The Controller posited that all effort would be made to create on enabling environment for honest declarants to thrive in their business in the spirit and letter of trade facilitation.  He noted that the Service has what it takes in terms of advanced technology to monitor transactions and ensuring Revenue Leakages are blocked.

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In the course of deliberation, the Controller drew the attention of participants on the need to take advantage of the full automation of Customs processes and procedures for the advancement of their transactions.  Generally speaking, he charged them to be compliant in all ramifications to avoid any impediment that could be counter productive.

The forum provided an ample opportunity for the controller to educate participants on the export potentials abounding in the country which he stated have not been fully explored.

He advised the Excos to create the awareness on their respective Associations  so that emphasis will also be on ways of utilizing the export potential of the Country in order to become major players in the economic sector as well as  wealth  creators, thereby surviving the presents Global economic uncertainties.

The Customs Area Controller, Tin Can Island Port, Y.U Bashar, may begin soon to conduct cargo examination in two phases, as a major strategy, towards reducing the increasing time spent on trade facilitation.

Comptroller Bashar who indicated this in Lagos after a brain storming session with stakeholders, particularly the heads of freight forwarding bodies in Tin Can Port, also stated that the pilot scheme for the proposal innovation will commence with Ports and Cargo Terminal on September 5th 2016.

The Comptroller who recently handed over a 40ft container of suspected expired medical devices to the NAFDAC and two suspects to the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) for alleged forgery of Soncap document in promotion of interagency synergy, subsequently emphasized the dire need for honest declarations by stakeholder.

“Inter Agency collaboration and synergy is a key element of the CGC’s change mantra”, he told his audience, promising to do everything within his power to boost trade.

In another development, the Controller actually hosted members of the Interstate Committee on  ‘Transit Goods’ led to Tin Can by Dr. (Mrs) Ekpa on the 25th of August, 2016, lauding the members for their     commitment towards ensuring enhanced protection of transit goods destined for Nigeria, also assured that his command would support the committee in every way to ensure the actualization of its mandate, despite observed challenges.

Earlier, the Committee which comprised officials from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Shippers Council, Customs, Nexim Bank etc, on courtesy visit to Tin Can had briefed the Controller on their statutory responsibility, which included but not limited to articulating policies that would promote regional Transit trade.

The head of delegation identified some of the challenges currently bedeviling transit trade in the region, adding that the committee was mandated to take a critical look at the entire  issues affecting transit trade in central and West Africa with a view to ensuring that Nigeria benefits economically from it and also put measures in place to guard against diversion of transit cargo.

In the meantime, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday admitted that Nigeria was in its worst possible time with the Gross Domestic Product figures for the 2016 second quarter released by the National Bureau of Statistics showing the nation’s economy now in recession.

The nation’s external reserves fell by 2.86 per cent to $25.45bn on August 29, 2016, the latest report from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Wednesday. The foreign exchange reserves stood at $26.2bn at the end of July.

The continued scarcity of foreign exchange also pushed the naira to an all-time-low of 420 against the United States dollar at the parallel market.

The development came hours after the economy entered recession, according to the data released by the NBS.

Adeosun said the nation had a long way to go and the government was not deceiving itself that all was rosy.

She spoke with State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“It’s the worst possible time for us. Are we confused? Absolutely not,” the minister said.

She identified some of the ways the country could get out of recession to include diversification of the economy and investing in capital projects.

The minister said, “I think that we have a long way to go. We’re not confused and we’re not deceiving ourselves that everything is rosy. It’s not.

“It’s a difficult time for Nigeria but I think Nigeria is in the right hands and if we can stick with our strategy… We still have some adjustments to make. I think we need to make some adjustments in monetary policy.”

In the report released by the NBS, the GDP growth rate slid further from -0.36 per cent in the first quarter to -2.06 per cent.

It also released the capital importation report for the second quarter, the unemployment statistics, the inflation rate for July and the labour productivity report for July.

All the reports painted a negative picture of the Nigerian economy with inflation rising to 17.1 per cent from 16.5 per cent; the unemployment rate increasing to 13.3 per cent from 12.1 per cent and the investment inflows dropping to the lowest levels at $647.1m from $710m.

In terms of the GDP, the negative growth rate recorded in the second quarter of the year is a confirmation of the predictions by the Federal Government and economists that the country was heading for a recession.

A recession is defined as a significant decline in activities across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale retail trade.

The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country’s GDP.

In nominal terms, the report put the country’s GDP at N23.48tn, adding that this was 2.73 per cent higher than the second quarter of 2015 value of N22.86tn.

The NBS, in the lastest report, said, “In the second quarter of 2016, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product declined by -2.06 per cent (year-on- year) in real terms.

“This was lower by 1.70 percentage points from the growth rate of -0.36 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter, and lower by 4.41 percentage points from the growth rate of 2.35 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015. Quarter-on-quarter, the real GDP increased by 0.82 per cent.”

The report stated that most of the sectors recorded huge declines in their GDP growth rates during the second quarter.

Some of them are oil, which recorded a negative GDP growth rate; manufacturing, -1.02 per cent; financial sector, 2.8 per cent; transport, 6.18 per cent; construction, 3.77 per cent; and real estate, 2.12 per cent.

Additional report from Punch