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Move to boost regional transit, deepen intra-African trade
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The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing intra-African trade through a deepened partnership with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), aimed at strengthening trade facilitation, customs cooperation, and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
This was disclosed on Thursday, 3 July 2026, during a working visit by Afreximbank’s President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr George Elombi, to the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, at the Service Headquarters in Abuja.
The visit gave both institutions the opportunity to review progress on existing collaboration and explore new areas of cooperation to ease cross-border trade and support regional economic integration.
Speaking during the visit, the CGC described the partnership as anchored on a shared commitment to unlocking Africa’s economic potential through stronger intra-continental trade, noting that the collaboration has already delivered measurable progress in customs modernisation, particularly in harmonising procedures and easing the movement of goods across borders.
“We are building a partnership between the two sides, a partnership founded on a single conviction: that Africa’s best trading partners are within Africa itself, and our prosperity will be built on the trade we conduct within ourselves. From C-PACT to our ongoing work on trade facilitation, we are turning that conviction into practical cooperation,” Adeniyi said.
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He added that the partnership would support Afreximbank’s regional transit initiatives, speed up the development of one-stop border posts along major trade corridors, and promote global best practices in customs administration.
According to him, the Service is already witnessing positive results from the Bank’s support for regional transit systems, and he expressed confidence that the collaboration would further strengthen Africa’s trade competitiveness.
In his remarks, Elombi commended the NCS for its proactive leadership, describing it as evidence of strong institutional commitment to transforming trade across the continent.
“It is nice to see the CGC taking the initiative to drive this kind of engagement, which demonstrates a clear commitment to transforming trade across the continent. We have the resources, and you have the will.
Together, we can make this partnership work for Africa,” he said, reaffirming the Bank’s readiness to scale up support for AfCFTA implementation and trade facilitation initiatives.
The meeting also reviewed the outcomes of the maiden edition of the Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT), held in Abuja in November 2025, which brought together customs administrations, development partners, and private sector stakeholders to harmonise procedures, build institutional capacity, and improve connectivity across Africa’s trading systems.
