Comptroller Bashar Yusuf Success Story (3): …How he supervised establishment of PAAR …Bashar, 2 others coined the name PAAR

Comptroller Bashar Yusuf Success Story (3):

.How he supervised establishment of PAAR

.Bashar, 2 others coined the name PAAR

By Udeme Clement &Silas Onuoha

Whenever Pre- Arrival Assessment Report ,PAAR, in Customs operations is mentioned, the first name that comes to mind is Comptroller Bashar Yusuf, who can rightly be described as the ‘Father of PAAR’ in the history of Nigeria Customs Service ,NCS.

He played a major role in the creation of PAAR, which today prevents the Federal Government from paying billions of naira to service providers for scanner services and generating of Risk Assessment Reports, RAR, in Nigeria’s Destination Inspection scheme.

It is on records that Comptroller Bashar supervised the establishment and creation of PAAR, as well as the Service Ruling Centre, as the Head of operations in ICT and Modernisation department, Customs headquarter, Abuja.

Infact, PAAR was like Comptroller Bashar’s Baby, as he nurtured it from zero to fruition.

History has it that Comptroller Bashar and few skillful Officers conceptualized PAAR with a team nickname-‘Vanilla Apps’ before they sought for world best practice to be imbibed on it.

In that capacity, Miss Valentina Minta, an ICT expert based and practicing in United Kingdom  ,UK,   was invited to give a broader world accepted norm into it.

Therefore, three of them, that is Comptroller Bashar and two others coined the name PAAR and submitted it to the top Customs Management for vetting and approval.

The facts finding investigations by Financial Business & Maritime News revealed that the name PAAR, as we have it today was first introduced by Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, in history. All thanks to Comptroller Bashar and his team for competence, skillful direction and selfless service to Nigerian nation.

Subsequently, the World Bank expert group was invited by the then Finance Minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to do a holistic review for the efforts of Comptroller Bashar and his team. Immediately, they certified PAAR so useful to the Service automation drive, hence accepted the concept.

Accordingly, the efforts of Comptroller Bashar and his team who worked tirelessly, using modern Information communication Technology ,ICT, to create PAAR as an indigenous platform became a huge success, as Customs officially unveiled the platform in 2013 economic year.

Financial Business & Maritime News inquest learnt that before PAAR was finally introduced in 2013, the Service was collecting about N2billion yearly from government as subvention. But the practice of getting subvention from government stopped immediately PAAR was introduced to replace RAR.

Most importantly, effective utilisation of PAAR as an indigenous platform boosted revenue generation for government, as NCS realised a whopping sum of  over N1trillion in 2014, just a year after PAAR was introduced.

Comptroller Bashar Yusuf success story (3):

Here is the third segment of this report. The Fourth aspect on the economic benefits of PAAR will be published on our online news platforms for Sunday Analysis:

Watch out for more facts!!!