Nigeria is set to export its home-grown customs modernisation model to the rest of Africa after the African Continental Free Trade Area adopted the country’s electronic customs system as the template for a $3.1bn continental project.
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission said the development marked a major validation of Nigeria’s public-private partnership framework, with the indigenous solution developed for the Nigeria Customs Service now expected to support trade across about 50 African countries.
The AfCFTA Secretariat recently signed a 20-year, $3.1bn concession agreement with Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Limited, the parent company of Trade Modernisation Project, to deploy the AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project across member states.
The project is expected to support the development of a more integrated customs system for the African single market, which has a population of about 1.3 billion people.
The Director-General of the ICRC, Dr Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday while reacting to the adoption of Nigeria’s Customs Modernisation Project as the model for the continental initiative.
The DG, in a statement issued by the acting Head, Media and Publicity, Ifeanyi Nwoko, said, “Nigeria’s Public-Private Partnership model is blazing a trail for Africa’s trade future, with a home-grown, indigenously built solution now serving as the template for a $3.1 bn continental customs modernisation drive under the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
Ewalefoh said the development demonstrated that Nigeria could move beyond being a consumer of technology and become an exporter of indigenous solutions to other African countries.
He said the adoption of the Nigerian model was also evidence that properly structured PPP arrangements could deliver large-scale infrastructure and technology projects without placing the entire financial burden on government.
“Africa is not just adopting a piece of technology. Africa is adopting a Nigerian idea, built by Nigerians, proven on Nigerian soil, and now trusted to carry the trade ambitions of an entire continent. This is what PPPs, properly structured and properly regulated, can deliver,” he said.
The ICRC chief spoke days after undertaking a monitoring and compliance visit to the Trade Modernisation Project, where he assessed progress on B’Odogwu, the Unified Customs Management System developed under the PPP arrangement.
B’Odogwu has become central to the Nigeria Customs Service’s digital transformation, with the system being rolled out across Customs commands as part of efforts to automate and modernise customs operations.
The AfCFTA Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, had said the Nigerian experience demonstrated how technology could transform customs administration.
According to Mene, the progress recorded under Nigeria’s customs modernisation programme gave the continental body the confidence to replicate the model across Africa.
Ewalefoh said the success was particularly significant because the project was not based on a foreign technology solution but on a system designed and developed by Nigerians.
