By Seun Ibiyemi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended the growing continental recognition of Nigeria’s customs modernisation programme following the selection of AfriTrade CMP Limited, a subsidiary of Nigerian-owned Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited, for a 20-year, multi-billion-dollar AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project.
The President said the development demonstrated Nigeria’s growing capacity to develop homegrown customs technology and infrastructure capable of serving markets beyond the country.
Under the project, AfriTrade CMP Limited is expected to deploy digital and physical infrastructure aimed at improving customs processes, cargo tracking, border management and trade-data exchange across participating African countries.
Another Bergmans subsidiary, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, is currently implementing Nigeria’s homegrown customs modernisation programme.
Tinubu said the continental project represented a validation of the experience and solutions developed in Nigeria, stressing that African integration would be strengthened when African institutions and businesses provide solutions for the continent.
“What has been built and tested in Nigeria is now providing a model for the continent. This is how African integration should work: Africans building African solutions for African opportunities,” the President said.
He added that Nigeria must not only participate in the African single market but also contribute the technology and infrastructure required to make cross-border trade more efficient.
The President further pledged that his administration would continue to create opportunities for capable Nigerian businesses to compete within Nigeria, across Africa and globally under the Nigeria First policy.
Tinubu commended Bergmans, AfriTrade CMP Limited, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and Nigerian professionals involved in the programme.
The development followed a visit by AfCFTA Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, to the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters in Abuja, where he inspected the Nigerian customs modernisation programme.
Mene was accompanied by members of the Senate Committee on Customs, led by its Chairman, Senator Jibrin Isah, following the committee’s two-day retreat on customs modernisation and reforms.
During the visit, Mene described B’Odogwu, Nigeria’s indigenous Unified Customs Management System, as a model for Africa.
He disclosed that non-African companies had offered similar solutions, but the AfCFTA opted for an African solution, describing the decision as a demonstration of the continent’s growing capacity for technological innovation and excellence.
Senator Isah, after inspecting the systems, said members of his committee had become ambassadors of the modernisation programme.
B’Odogwu, which was first piloted in October 2024, has become a key component of Nigeria’s customs reform programme, alongside cargo tracking, data infrastructure, surveillance, risk management and non-intrusive inspection systems.
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The customs modernisation programme is also being integrated with the National Single Window, which was launched in March 2026 as a single digital gateway for cross-border trade processes.
According to the President, the success of the continental initiative will ultimately depend on the ability to make movement of goods across African borders faster, cheaper and less cumbersome.
“The promise of AfCFTA will be realised when goods can move across African borders faster, at lower cost and with fewer barriers. Nigeria is ready to contribute its experience, innovation and enterprise to that future,” Tinubu said.
The development further positions Nigeria’s customs digitalisation experience as a potential template for improving trade facilitation and border management under the African Continental Free Trade Area
