Nigeria and South Africa sign MOU

South Africa's Commissioner for Revenue Services and Nigeria's Customs Boss Abdullahi Dikko sign the MOU.

Nigeria and South Africa sign MOU.
Collins Atohengbe, South Africa

The South African Revenue Service [SARS] is to avail itself of the training opportunity available at the Nigerian Customs’ Border Patrol College, Abuja.

The Commissioner for Revenue Services, George Magashula told Voice of Nigeria in Pretoria after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Nigeria and his country that the facilities at the college were of high standard and that it would have Pretoria to save cost.

He expressed satisfaction with the curriculum of study at the institution during his visit to Nigeria in December 2011 to attend the 66th Policy Commission of World Customs Organization and said that it would be prefer to use the opportunity to train South African Customs officers there instead of using the facilities of other countries outside the shores of Africa.

He said just as there has been a cordial relationship between both countries, the MOU should be seen as being of a considerable importance beyond Abuja and Pretoria particularly Nigeria and South Africa which contributes an estimated 1.1 trillion US Dollars to the total gross domestic product of the African continent

Trade between both countries .

Magashula said Nigeria with its large population and the sophistication of South African economy makes both nations a high attraction for export business for which cooperation in customs management cannot be brushed aside.

 “Trade between the two countries account for over 45% of trade on the continent; so if at any stage you want to improve trade efficiency, you want to improve import and export from both countries, you cannot do it without Nigeria. It is a big force on the continent; and I think if you look at market that the rest of the world export particularly in terms of high value products, the two biggest markets are in Nigeria and South Africa. The Nigerian market is bigger; we believe that from industry development point of view, the kind of products that are suitable for our continent, most of it comes from here so from our interest, that we have a mutual cooperation agreements with Nigerian Customs is imperative”. George Magashula said.

Earlier, the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Services, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi said the memorandum of understanding would go a long way to creating an ideal port management situation between South Africa and Nigeria.

He said Nigeria will continue with its magnanimous assistance to South Africa in continuation of the strong support Abuja offered Pretoria in the fight against the apartheid regime.

Alhaji Dikko said quite a number of South African customs and revenue officers of equal cadre as himself were trained in Nigeria under a Nigerian government scholarship programmes while the country was yet under minority rule.

 “Right from history you are aware of how much Nigeria put in financial and human resources to bring about the downfall of apartheid and even then officers at our level are mostly those who studied in Nigeria under Nigerian scholarship. So in terms of modernization, the Nigerian Customs Services has come of age and in fact we can see from deliberations we are far ahead and it is on that that Nigeria will keep giving assistance to south Africa. And on the other side of border management because of apartheid struggle; and if you look at South Africa it really has suffered a lot of crises and war, we are looking forward to seeing how they have been managing that aspect”, said Dikko.                                                                                                                                                                 
The Comptroller General said there many other countries including the United States, Japan and Argentina have indicated their willingness to enter into cooperation agreements with Nigeria Customs Service and that the efforts were on to ensure cooperation between the Service and the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria on equipment and facility management in line with modern trends across the globe.  

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