The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed have urged critical stakeholders in the nations economic growth to key into the digitalization of Import Duty Exemption Certificate, IDEC.

Zainab who spoke at the Customs Training College Kano during a one-day sensitization seminar on the “Automated Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) Processing and Approval,” ably represented by the Honourable Commissioner of Finance and Economic Development, Kano State, Honourable Shehu Na’Allah Kura, said that the initiative is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s keen interest in promoting and sustaining transparency and efficiency in delivering services in the public sector domain and organized private sector.

Speaking further, she revealed that, the Federal Government approved the automation of the processing of IDEC in November, 2019 and the roll out of the Technology in March, 2020, “in order to entrench process efficiency for IDEC administration.”

“Approximately N341.94Billion worth of waivers was granted from August 2017 to August 2019. The scope of such request are expanding; hence the need to have in place modern technology to drive it’s administration.” She noted.

Also speaking at the event, the Comptoller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali rtd who was ably represented by the Commandant of Customs Training College Kano, Comptoller, Lawrence Banye, stated that the primary aim of waivers in every economy as being facilitated by IDEC in Nigeria is to provide incentives that will stimulate industrialization and economic growth.

While noting that the critical stakeholders meeting by the Federal Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs service wouldn’t have come at a better time than now that the government needs more non-oil revenues, Col. Ali stated that the development will, “not only block leakages with it’s attendant positive effects, but also promote trade efficiency, boost investors confidence, transparency and ease of doing business.”

He assured that the sensitization will not only bring success story to the implementation of the automated IDEC, but will also serve as a testimony of Nigeria’s movement towards an enviable position in trade facilitation.

On her part, the parmanent secretary Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr. Aliyu Ahmed, ably represented by the parmanent secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Hannan DoDo, said that prior to this development, manual processing of IDEC entails receiving and profiling of applications which took approximately 20 – 30 days is now possible within a couple of days as a result of the automation.

He expressed confidence that the new digital process will ensure, “efficiency and transparency with drastic reduction in direct, physical human interfaces.”

Others who spoke at the event include Mr. Steven Maidayedu, Deputy Director Tax Policy, Ministry of Finance, who spoke on the laws governing import duty exemption processing and approval and guidelines for issuing such approval.

A demonstration of the step by step process of how the platform works was displayed at the seminar, with users of the platform expressing satisfaction and confidence with the development, noting that it is simple and user friendly.