The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has acknowledged the difficulties being experienced since the implementation of the new Customs Unified Management Information System, also known as B’Odogwu, emphasising that such issues were anticipated.

The Controller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, who paid a working visit yesterday to the PTML and Tin Can Island Ports in Lagos to assess the operations, assured that the Service is taking a reflective and adaptive approach to resolving them.

Adeniyi said his mission to the ports was to gain firsthand insight into the operational challenges faced by officers, stakeholders, and banks involved in the pilot phase of the B’Odogwu rollout.

According to him, the challenges range from system-related issues to hiccups involving banks and stakeholder interactions.

Stakeholders have been lamenting bottlenecks faced with the B’Odogwu platform, stating that some banks are not connected to the system, while those connected delay in raising Form M.

“We are at a very critical junction in the operation of the Customs Unified Management Information System. We’ve rolled it out as a pilot in PTML and now the system is up and running. We understand that there are still some challenges here and there.

“We are not pretending that when we roll out a very serious project of that magnitude there will be no hitches. Whatever challenges we are experiencing now are not unexpected,” he said.

He assured that the NCS is taking a reflective and adaptive approach to resolving them, saying, “Each time we take a step, we look back, we reflect, we take stock and see what we can do differently.”

Adeniyi stated that the B’Odogwu system is designed to unify and digitise Customs processes for enhanced transparency and efficiency and is one of the service’s flagship modernisation initiatives.

Despite the early setbacks, Adeniyi expressed confidence that the resilience of the system and the determination of the team would ensure its long-term success.

He also linked the system’s effectiveness to recent operational achievements, including seizures and enforcement actions, noting that the strength of the system will determine how effectively it can be managed.

the guardian