💻 Customs Modernization Part 5: The IT System

💻 Customs Modernization Part 5: The IT System

To Read:👉🏾Kano-Maradi railway

 👉🏾The Reality of ENA Graduates

"Without wanting to play the visionary, the future will prove the audacious right, I am certain." – Michel Danet (WCO Secretary General – 2007)

The Anecdote

While working as a logistician, after explaining my vision of modern customs and its applications to a pharmacist who was our supplier, I told him it was possible to submit an import request directly via the Customs IT System (SYDONIA), without going through a forwarder, and to make all other requests for exemption, certificate of origin, and authorizations related to international transactions of medical products and materials requiring customs endorsement. "It's unacceptable that someone else does our job, and we pay for it, only for it to ultimately waste our time. I see this as another form of corruption," he confided to me.

The Question of History: If the customs IT system has the potential described above and these options are not utilized, do you think we will utilize these options with another system, like the single window, concerning customs procedures?

In Principle

The Customs IT System (SYDONIA) should play an essential role in facilitating international trade. It is intended to allow Customs to process goods more effectively and efficiently, which helps reduce costs and delays for businesses and consumers.

To Read: 👉 Nigerian intelligence community

SYDONIA offers a wide range of functionalities that enable more efficient processing of goods. These functionalities include:

• Data exchange on goods (remote clearance, request for licenses, certificates, authorizations, etc.)
• Identification and tracking of goods (pre-arrival clearance, removal of goods under customs control before clearance, etc.)
• Verification of customs data (risk management, performance, deferred controls, statistics, etc.)
• Customs decision-making, to name but a few.

It therefore allows Customs to:

Receive prior electronic information on goods before their entry into the territory (and thus perform controls so that the goods are released at the latest upon arrival).

Transform information into intelligence through complex risk assessment systems.

Reduce the average clearance time from 53 hours to 24 hours.

 The Problematic

Did previous governments support the necessary changes in customs services at the highest level? Is the level of  ethics sufficient to prevent corruption? Does the customs administration have an automated system that allows for the rapid application of modern customs principles? If the answer to all these questions is not a resounding "yes," then customs modernization is essential. The "new generation" customs is imperative to become an instrument of competitiveness on a regional, African, or even global scale. It is precisely under the aegis of the new generation that the next intelligent border management system will be established for the security and prosperity of Niger.

In Practice

For the time being, the customs IT system is essentially dedicated to liquidation (determining the amount of duties and taxes) by Customs and the establishment of the customs declaration by the authorized customs broker. The system is therefore primarily oriented towards revenue collection at the expense of security. Indeed, this second mission, security, is little known to the general public, and yet Customs also has the mission of securing the territory by protecting the country from arms trafficking, just as it does with narcotics. The customs IT system, when utilized to its optimum, will undoubtedly guarantee the success of the security mission entrusted to Customs and thus contribute to ending the supply of weapons and ammunition to terrorists.

Initiatives are observed on the ground, such as at the Niamey-Route customs office, but rare, or rather exceptional, are the cases where:

The SYDONIA software is used for extra-declarative data exchange (Customs and external partners). The utilization in terms of data exchange remains purely restricted to the internal customs environment, as attested by the interconnection between Niger's Customs and Benin's.

The establishment of technical statistics.

The steering of a strategy (risk management system...).

Investigation (I admit, apart from my personal experience, I have never witnessed a customs investigation to uncover fraud solely through the customs IT system).

Regarding procedures, system access accreditations, accreditations to suspensive regimes, and in short, no authorizations are automated. In other words, one must always be present or rather appear in person at the customs administration. Yet, to obtain an import authorization from the Ministry of Health, one only needs to log into their account and scan a few documents.

Indeed, "customs procedures in many countries have become incompatible and thus inefficient. They constitute a hindrance to economic and social development. It has become necessary to establish universal professional standards" (Source: WCO No. 53, June 2007, SPECIAL REPORT Customs and New Technologies).

Final Thoughts

In the absence of sound and solid management, the customs IT system will be useless. A study should normally highlight the benefits associated with the current use and exploitation of SYDONIA, as it is recommended, wherever possible, to always produce, analyze, and display indicators.

WCO experts learned that 100% of inspections carried out in the country with a high level of control were due to the fact that the police had the power to sanction customs officials who failed to detect the non-payment of taxes. (Source: WCO No. 52, February 2007, SPECIAL REPORT Customs Modernization, page 14). Does customs performance, via the IT system, depend on the National Police?

Key Takeaway

SYDONIA is a constantly evolving system. It is regularly updated to meet the needs of customs and international trade.

The Nigerian customs IT system, SYDONIA, is currently the most important in the world, with over 100 user countries. It is therefore important to train future ENA customs graduates on the SYDONIA World Software, as well as (in the hope that everything will be done for modern customs) on the automated management of Exemptions and the Rules of Origin of goods.

Hopes

My hopes are founded, essentially, in these moments of patriotic fervor, on recruitment without competition for customs graduates in Niger.

To Read: 👉 Nigerian intelligence community

The priority of my hopes is focused on human resources, because without qualified personnel, any financial or material investment will not be productive.