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 geared toward enhancing cross-border commerce and advancing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The initiative seeks to deal with infrastructure gaps, enhance customs procedures, strengthen digital info change 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 befell 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 nations’ customs administrations, Afreximbank and technical companions to evaluate evaluation findings and establish precedence interventions.
Customs businesses goal digital integration
A significant focus of the discussions was the Customs Declarations Exchange System (CDES), a proposed mechanism for safe info change among the many digital customs platforms of the three nations.
- 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 standard information mannequin supposed to enhance info sharing and facilitate quicker cross-border processing.
- However, the receiving nation’s customs administration would retain accountability for validating the knowledge, making use of nationwide rules, conducting threat assessments and authorising cargo clearance.
Although growth 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 the 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 establish infrastructure and operational gaps
The assessments of the 2 precedence corridors highlighted infrastructure deficiencies and operational challenges that would 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 tools, 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 reside information change, alongside non-functional cargo scanning and weighing amenities.
The hall additionally faces unreliable electrical energy, site visitors congestion, inconsistent working hours and unresolved tasks for sustaining shared infrastructure.
Maiwada stated the findings strengthened the necessity to handle fast 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 individuals inspecting how infrastructure, site 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 undertaking preparation
To transfer the initiative ahead, Afreximbank outlined a proposed two-stage strategy starting with unbiased engineering assessments and investment-cost research on the Mfum-Ekok and Sèmè-Kraké border posts.
The second stage would contain creating separate bankable undertaking packages for the Nigeria-Cameroon and Nigeria-Benin corridors.
According to the NCS, the proposed undertaking 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 think about self-financing the preparatory work.
However, the assembly didn’t set up a last undertaking value, 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 larger financial integration throughout the continent.
A delegation from the AfCFTA Secretariat, led by Pedro Estevao, visited Nigeria lately for engagements with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to speed up the implementation of the STR on the NCS headquarters in Abuja.
