The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the customs administrations of the Republic of Benin and Cameroon are working with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on a regional border modernisation programme aimed toward bettering cross-border commerce and advancing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The initiative seeks to handle infrastructure gaps, enhance customs procedures, strengthen digital info alternate and improve cargo motion alongside the Nigeria-Benin and Nigeria-Cameroon corridors.
In a press release issued in Abuja on Sunday, NCS spokesperson Abdullahi Maiwada stated the discussions happened at Afreximbank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on October 12, 2026.
The assembly, led by Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adeniyi, introduced collectively representatives of the three international locations’ customs administrations, Afreximbank and technical companions to evaluation evaluation findings and determine precedence interventions.
Customs companies goal digital integration
A serious focus of the discussions was the Customs Declarations Exchange System (CDES), a proposed mechanism for safe info alternate among the many digital customs platforms of the three international locations.
- The system is designed to attach Nigeria’s B’Odogwu platform, Benin’s Customs Webb and Cameroon’s Customs Information System (CAMCIS), permitting export info generated in a single nation to help advance preparation of import documentation within the receiving nation.
- According to Maiwada, the system is constructed round a typical information mannequin supposed to enhance info sharing and facilitate sooner cross-border processing.
- However, the receiving nation’s customs administration would retain accountability for validating the knowledge, making use of nationwide laws, conducting threat assessments and authorising cargo clearance.
Although improvement and technical testing have been undertaken, additional country-specific configuration, utility programming interface integration, safety assessments and pilot acceptance are required earlier than deployment.
The discussions additionally lined Afreximbank’s potential participation within the subsequent Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT) and progress in direction of regional and continental transit assure preparations.
These measures are supposed to strengthen coordination amongst customs authorities, enhance cargo visibility and cut back procedural bottlenecks affecting regional commerce.
Assessments determine infrastructure and operational gaps
The assessments of the 2 precedence corridors highlighted infrastructure deficiencies and operational challenges that might undermine the effectiveness of a modernised border system.
At the Mfum-Ekok border between Nigeria and Cameroon, the evaluation recognized unreliable electrical energy provide, poor connectivity, insufficient info expertise gear, cybersecurity issues and inadequate technical help.
Other challenges included the commissioning of cargo scanners and the necessity for coordinated single-stop border processing.
At the Sèmè-Kraké hall linking Nigeria and Benin, the evaluation discovered gaps in joint working procedures and dwell information alternate, alongside non-functional cargo scanning and weighing amenities.
The hall additionally faces unreliable electrical energy, visitors congestion, inconsistent working hours and unresolved obligations for sustaining shared infrastructure.
Maiwada stated the findings bolstered the necessity to tackle rapid operational shortcomings whereas creating a correctly assessed and costed long-term modernisation programme.
The July 2026 benchmarking mission to Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge Border Post additionally knowledgeable the discussions, with contributors inspecting how infrastructure, visitors administration, pre-arrival processing and risk-based controls could possibly be built-in into an environment friendly border administration system.
Afreximbank proposes two-stage challenge preparation
To transfer the initiative ahead, Afreximbank outlined a proposed two-stage method starting with impartial engineering assessments and investment-cost research on the Mfum-Ekok and Sèmè-Kraké border posts.
The second stage would contain creating separate bankable challenge packages for the Nigeria-Cameroon and Nigeria-Benin corridors.
According to the NCS, the proposed challenge preparation course of would cowl transaction advisory providers, authorized due diligence, monetary modelling and the identification of appropriate financing and implementation preparations.
Afreximbank additionally outlined the potential use of its Project Preparation Facility to help the method.
Technical companions TMP and Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Limited expressed willingness in precept to contemplate self-financing the preparatory work.
However, the assembly didn’t set up a last challenge price, lending dedication, designated borrower, financing construction or implementation contract.
Nigeria chosen as pilot nation for AfCFTA simplified commerce
Earlier this 12 months, Nairametrics reported that the AfCFTA Secretariat had selected Nigeria to be the pilot country for the implementation of its Simplified Trade Regime (STR) in West Africa.
This framework is designed to simplify the procedures for small-scale merchants engaged in cross-border commerce, offering simpler entry to regional markets and contributing to higher financial integration throughout the continent.
A delegation from the AfCFTA Secretariat, led by Pedro Estevao, visited Nigeria just lately for engagements with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to speed up the implementation of the STR on the NCS headquarters in Abuja.
