Trade
and Exchange Department of the CBN, Dr.
Ozoemena Nnaji, in a circular titled: “Notice of
Re-assignment of Pre-Shipment Inspection Agents for Non-oil Exports”, stated
that Carmine Assayer has been
re-assigned from the northern zone to serve as PIA for non-oil export for the
south-west zone, comprising Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Ogun states; while Cobalt International was re-assigned
from the south-west zone to the north-central, north-east and north-west zones.
The
duties of PIAs, according to the export guidelines of the Ministry of Finance,
Budget and National Planning, include the inspection of all non-oil exports
from the country, with the exemption of goods prohibited for exportation from
Nigeria as contained in the annual Fiscal Policy guidelines. The focus of the
PIAs, according to the guideline, would be to ascertain the quality, quantity
and price competitiveness of exports from Nigeria, as well as ensure the
quality and quantity, advice the fair value of the products exported and shall,
if satisfied, issue a Clean Certificate
of Inspection (CCI) in respect of such products.
The
PIAs are expected to submit monthly, quarterly and annual statistical returns
on export transactions to the Federal
Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Export Promotion Council
(NEPC), National Bureau of Statistics, Office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation and the
Nigeria Customs Service. The guideline stipulates that any PIA that
consistently fails for a period of three months to submit monthly report on or
before the 10th day of the subsequent month shall receive a query from the
Ministry, while any PIA that fails to submit same for up to six consecutive
months within the same year shall be deemed as non-performing and would have
its contract terminated.
It
also stated that any PIA that consecutively fails for three months to meet with
the scheduled time of inspection shall lose the territory (state) to another
PIA and it shall be re-assigned by the Ministry. The guideline added that: “If
it is established that it is the fault of the PIA that export was done without Nigerian Export Proceed Form (NXP) and
proper issuance of CCI, the PIA shall be queried and warned. If the PIA
persistently defaults in like manner for six months, it shall have its contract
withdrawn.
“On the other hand, if it is established that it is the fault of the
shipping line/agent, it shall be reported to the Nigerian Shippers Council for
appropriate sanction. Failure of any PIA to report attempts to export
substandard goods should immediately result in query, warning and subsequent
suspension,” the
circular concluded.
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