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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has commended Nigeria’s indigenous customs modernisation system, B’Odogwu, following its recognition by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for a continental customs modernisation project.
AfCFTA selected AfriTrade CMP Limited, a subsidiary of Nigerian-owned Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited, to implement a 20-year customs modernisation project across participating African countries.
The project will deploy digital and physical infrastructure for customs processes, cargo tracking, border management and trade-data exchange.
Tinubu, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the development demonstrated that solutions developed and tested in Nigeria could serve the wider African market.
“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,” he said.
He said Nigeria should not only participate in Africa’s single market but also provide technology and infrastructure required to facilitate trade across the continent.
“Nigeria must not only participate in Africa’s single market. Nigerian institutions and businesses can help build the technology and infrastructure that will make that market work,” he said.
Tinubu linked the development to his administration’s Nigeria First policy, saying the government would continue to create opportunities for Nigerian businesses to compete within the country, across Africa and globally.
“Under our Nigeria First policy, we will continue to create opportunities for capable Nigerian businesses to compete at home, across Africa and globally,” he said.
The President 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 developing the system.
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The recognition followed a visit by AfCFTA Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, to the headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service in Abuja, where he inspected the Nigerian customs modernisation programme.
Mene described B’Odogwu, Nigeria’s indigenous Unified Customs Management System, as a model for Africa.
He said non-African companies had offered similar services but AfCFTA opted for an African solution.
The development places Nigeria’s customs technology at the centre of efforts to digitise border management and address administrative and technological barriers to intra-African trade.
Members of the Senate Committee on Customs, led by Senator Jibrin Isah, also participated in the visit after concluding a two-day retreat on customs modernisation and reforms.
Following an inspection of the systems, Isah said members of the committee had become ambassadors of the modernisation programme.
B’Odogwu, first piloted in October 2024, is part of Nigeria’s customs reform programme covering cargo tracking, data infrastructure, surveillance, risk management and non-intrusive inspection.
The system is also being integrated with the National Single Window, launched in March 2026 as a digital gateway for cross-border trade processes.
The integration is expected to facilitate the exchange of trade information and improve the efficiency of customs and other border-related processes.
Tinubu said the success of AfCFTA would ultimately depend on its ability to make the 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,” he said.
