Nigeria Customs Service digital reforms gain AfCFTA support

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is undergoing a significant digital transformation that has gained continental recognition. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), has commended Nigeria’s indigenous technology, specifically the B’Odogwu Unified Customs Management System, as a model for Africa. Mene noted that the Service’s digital innovations could help mitigate revenue leakages and border delays caused by manual processes in other African nations.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has welcomed the selection of a Nigerian-owned firm’s subsidiary, AfriTrade CMP Limited, for a multi-billion-dollar, 20-year AfCFTA project to modernize customs and cargo tracking across the continent. This development is seen as a validation of Nigeria’s capacity to provide homegrown technological solutions for African markets.

To sustain these advancements, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, has called for legislative reforms to align Nigeria’s trade laws with global practices and provide statutory backing for the Service’s modernization agenda. This seeks to ensure institutional stability and protect reform gains across different administrations. Additionally, the Service has been recognized for its social impact through the ‘Customs Cares’ initiative, which focuses on community development in education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.