Customs to Fast-Track Cargo Clearance at Lekki Deep Sea Port

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr Adewale Adeniyi, has unveiled a Green Channel initiative at the Lekki Deep Sea Port as part of efforts to simplify cargo clearance, reduce delays, and improve operational efficiency for port users.

The launch marks a major step in customs’ drive to enhance trade facilitation through technology and stakeholder collaboration.

Speaking at the event in Lagos, Mr Adeniyi said the initiative was introduced by the Lekki Deep Sea Port and approved by NCS management to address persistent challenges in container stacking and examination at major ports, which often slow cargo processing.

“This particular intervention helps to move containers right from the vessel into a dedicated place where customers can have access. And between the time the container moves from the vessel to this particular place, it is tracked,” he said.

The customs boss explained that the Green Channel is designed to ensure seamless cargo movement through a dedicated corridor with minimal bureaucratic obstacles, enabling faster turnaround time for importers and other stakeholders.

He described the initiative as a product of mutual trust between the agency and its stakeholders, stressing that compliance and cooperation are essential to its success.

“What we have done today is a product of the kind of trust that we have invested in our stakeholders and the confidence that we also have in them, that they would do this in the spirit of compliance and trade facilitation,” he said.

Mr Adeniyi added that beyond easing port operations, the Green Channel supports Nigeria’s broader economic objective of building a more competitive trade environment, noting that the initiative is expected to reduce the cost and time required to do business, ultimately boosting revenue generation for the service.