To douse the controversy surrounding Nigeria Customs Service e-auction policy over difficulty encountered in accessing its e-auction portal, the service spokesman, Mr Joseph Attah, yesterday admitted the system locked out some people at the expiration of the allotted time.
He also insisted that some banks are still having interswitch challenges but that the challenge would soon fizzle out. “Every batch has 48 hours. The first 48 hours elapsed at noon on Wednesday, July 5, and the system completely locks out everybody and automatically sends mails to the winners,” he said.
“That is why some bidders experienced problems. But by Monday, July 10, the system will open again for new set of bidders.” he said
Concerning the banks, Attah said for now, it was only Jaiz Bank that was on the platform because other banks were still having Interswitch issues.
“These other banks will soon be on board as soon as they rectify the issues,” he said. Attah called on potential bidders to be patient and make use of the bank available on the platform for now until other banks could come on board.
However, on Tuesday, Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali, launched the portal meant for the bidding of seized and overtime vehicles. Ali had said the aim of the platform was to give all Nigerians equal opportunities to partake in bidding for seized vehicles and to increase customs’ revenue.
Recall that in the first round of the bid, intending bidders were disallowed to access the portal following technical hitches from the website. This generated a lot of furor among the bidders who called for the cancellation of the process. nks as well as other banks on the continent.”, he said.
Corroborating, Lead Professor/Orchestrator, Duke University, Jared Bleak, said that the key learning from the week-long programme was evident in the prospects for Nigerian banks becoming more international and how they could collaborate with other markets on the continent and even the rest of the world.
“The internationalisation of Nigerian banks is happening, and even the South African groups here have learned from the economy and possibly thinking about partnerships,” he stated.
Dr Franklin Ngwu, Senior Lecturer, Strategy, Finance and Risk Management, Lagos Business School, remarked that it was a great feat helping the South African Investment bankers to understudy the Nigerian financial sector to see areas of opportunity, investment and collaboration with the two countries.
According to him, “We have exposed them to both the formal and informal aspects of the economy and we envisage a possible cooperation and investment between the two economies,”
On his part, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyeama commended the Lagos Business School for the IEDP initiative, and stated that opportunities such as this affords the stock exchange an avenue to share relevant information which boosts confidence in the Nigerian capital markets and in turn the Nigerian economy.