Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, has called for the Nigeria Customs Service’s digital innovations to be studied and potentially replicated across Africa, describing Nigeria’s technological progress as a practical African response to longstanding customs and trade challenges.
Mene made the remarks during a visit to the Customs headquarters in Abuja, where he inspected the service’s technology-driven systems and infrastructure. He particularly praised the digital transformation and said the innovations could benefit countries beyond Nigeria.
A major concern highlighted by Mene was the continued dependence on manual customs processes in many African countries. He argued that inefficient and outdated procedures contribute to revenue leakages, delays at borders and weak intra-African trade. In his view, Nigeria’s experience provides an opportunity for other African countries to learn from a home-grown model rather than depending entirely on solutions developed outside the continent.
Mene also identified the Nigeria Customs Service data centre as a potentially important continental resource. He suggested that its infrastructure could help countries that lack the financial or technical capacity to establish similar facilities, while demonstrating Africa’s increasing ability to develop and manage critical digital infrastructure.
The AfCFTA scribe said the success of the continental free trade agreement depends on removing formal trade barriers and making the movement of goods across African borders faster and more efficient. The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said the service would continue to expand its digital transformation programme.
He stressed that the NCS would combine global best practices with solutions designed around the specific realities and needs of African trade. Adeniyi also expressed the service’s willingness to collaborate with AfCFTA and other African customs administrations to promote digital integration, facilitate legitimate trade and strengthen regional economic cooperation.