President Bola Tinubu has commended the growing continental recognition of Nigeria’s customs modernisation efforts following the selection of a subsidiary of Nigerian-owned Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited for a 20-year, multi-billion-dollar AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project.
The project, to be implemented through Bergmans’ subsidiary, AfriTrade CMP Limited, will deploy digital and physical infrastructure to modernise customs operations, improve cargo tracking and border management, and facilitate trade-data exchange across participating African countries.
Another subsidiary of Bergmans, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, is currently implementing Nigeria’s homegrown customs modernisation programme.
According to a statement by the President’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu said the development demonstrated Nigeria’s growing capacity to develop homegrown solutions with potential applications across 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 Africa’s single market but also contribute the technology and infrastructure needed to make the market functional.
“Under our Nigeria First policy, we will continue to create opportunities for capable Nigerian businesses to compete at home, across Africa and globally,” Tinubu said.
He commended Bergmans, AfriTrade CMP Limited, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and other Nigerian professionals whose work, he said, had earned continental recognition.
The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area, Wamkele Mene, who was in Abuja for the signing of the agreement, also visited the headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service to observe the Nigerian customs modernisation programme in operation.
Members of the Senate Committee on Customs, led by Senator Jibrin Isah, joined the visit at the end of their two-day retreat on customs modernisation and reforms.
Mene described B’Odogwu, Nigeria’s indigenous Unified Customs Management System, as a model for Africa. He said while non-African companies had offered similar solutions, the AfCFTA opted for an African-developed system, highlighting the continent’s growing capacity for innovation and excellence.
Isah, after observing the system in operation, said members of his committee had become ambassadors of the programme.
B’Odogwu, which was first piloted in October 2024, has become a key component of Nigeria’s customs modernisation efforts, alongside cargo tracking, data infrastructure, surveillance, risk management and non-intrusive inspection systems.
The programme is also being integrated with the National Single Window, which was launched in March 2026 to provide a single digital gateway for cross-border trade processes.
Tinubu said the success of AfCFTA would ultimately depend on the ability of African countries to move goods across borders more quickly, cheaply and with fewer obstacles.
“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.
