3. Increased usage of credit history and credit scoring: Increased sensitisation and utilisation of Credit Reports and Credit Scoring by banks and other financial institutions
Reforms: PENDING
1. National Assembly to pass relevant legislation: NASS working to pass two priority bills to ease access to credit: Secured Transactions in Movable Assets (aka Collateral Registry) Bill and Credit Bureau Services Bill.
F. Trading Across Borders
60-Day Target: To reduce export and import time by up to 50 per cent
Reforms: COMPLETED
1. Palletisation of Imports: Imports into Nigeria now required to be placed in pallets to enable quicker physical examination
2. Provision of advanced cargo manifest: Vessels importing goods into Nigeria now required to transmit cargo manifest in advance to ensure improved risk assessment and optimal cargo placement
3. NCS to coordinate physical examination: NCS now required to schedule and coordinate joint physical examination to ensure only one point of contact between officials and importers
4. Accelerate pre-export documentation procedures: The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and banks now required to process Net Export Proceeds (NXP) forms within 72 hours; and Pre-Shipment Inspection Agencies (PIAs) required to issue Certificate of Clean Inspection (CCI) within 3 days
5. Reduction in documentation requirements: Approval obtained to reduce number of documents required for imports from 14 to 8, and number of documents needed for export from 10 to 7
6. Reduction in container placement notice time: Reduced minimum container placement notice time needed by Terminal Operators for examination from 24 hours to 12 hours
Reforms: PENDING
1. Standardise template for reporting fees
2. Roll out complaints portal
3. Optimise pre-shipment process for exports
4. Revise SLAs: Ensure contracts and revised Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are put in place for PIAs and make the process for appointing PIAs fully online
G. Entry and Exit of People
60-Day Target: Visa processing timeline and improved traveller experience
Reforms: COMPLETED
1. Simplified Visa-on-arrival and submission process: Updated visa-on-arrival procedure to include to include e-submission of applications to dedicated NIS email address (oa@nigeriaimmigration.gov.ng)
2. New Immigration Regulation 2017: Honourable Minister of Interior has approved and released a new Immigration Regulation
3. Consolidation of arrival/departure forms: Consolidated arrival and departure forms now available and in use at the airports
4. 48-hour visa processing time: Approved timeline of 48 hours for business and tourism visa processing at Nigerian missions abroad
5. Infrastructural Improvements (Abuja Airport): Select infrastructural improvements at Abuja airport, including repairs of ACs, escalators, carousels, toilets and painting
Reforms: PENDING
1. Infrastructural improvements (Lagos airport): Effect infrastructural improvements at Lagos airport, including repairs of ACs, escalators, carousels, toilets and painting
2. Eliminate manual baggage searches: Deploy baggage scanners at the airports to eliminate intrusive and time-consuming manual searches
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