The Trade Modernisation Project (TMP) Ltd, will empower 2,500 personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) with technical skills. According to Mr Ahmed Ogunshola, the General Manager of the project, this is in line with the project's capacity building framework. Ogunshola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja. NAN reports that TMP Ltd is the concessionaire of the NCS trade project. It is a 20-year concession agreement which has three phases, with phase one covering year one to six; phase two, seven to 13, and phase three from 14 to 20 years . The agreement was signed on May 27, 2023 between the Federal Government of Nigeria represented by NCS Board, and Trade Modernisation Project Ltd. TMP is the automation of the business processes of the NCS to simplify , and enhance the experience of stakeholders in the trade value chain. According to the manager, the training aims to empower the personnel with the requisite skills to operate state-of-the art technolog y that will be deployed to automate trade processes. 'More than 2,500 NCS personnel will be trained by the first quarter of 2025, in line with the project's capacity building framework. ' This will cover strategy, management and technical training, as well as direct skills and knowledge transfer. 'TMP has jointly designed, developed and deployed all technology systems and platforms for the project. This ensures that NCS has complete knowledge of all technology software, hardware and services from inception,' he said. He said that the company was developing a software known as the Unified Customs Management System (UCMS), to be deployed to monitor all stages of transactions by traders and other processes. According to him, the revenue cluster of the new system has been released and is currently undergoing user acceptance tests to facilitate the smooth integration of other stakolders in to the system. 'TMP has signed and is implementing nine technical agreements with its technical and financial partners. 'TMP invested 2.5 million dollars to retrofit the NCS Project Management Office, a one-story building donated by NCS to the project. 'TMP, upon handover of the Project Management Office (PMO) by NCS, renovated the space to world class standard, with latest-in-class technology, including a Modernisation Hub and teleconference facilities. 'The PMO is now host to about 100 professionals daily, drawn from NCS and TMP and its partners, working on the delivery of Phase 1 of the project,' he said. NAN reports that the project is expected to generate in excess of 250 billion dollars for the Federal Government during the life of the concession. The concessionaire is expected to invest 3.2 billion dollars to deliver the project over the 20-year period. (NAN)(www.nannew.ng) Source: News Agency of Nigeria