The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it is advancing intra-African trade through a deepened partnership with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), aimed at creating one stop border posts to strengthen trade facilitation and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Service made this known over the weekend 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, at the Customs Headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking during the visit, the CGC noted 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.

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,”

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.

In another development, Adeniyi has emphasised the need for interoperable customs systems across Africa, describing it as a critical requirement for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Customs Modernisation Project.

Speaking during a 20-year Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Agreement between the AfCFTA Secretariat and Bergmans Security to initiate the AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project, the CGC described the lack of harmonised technology among African Customs administrations as a major impediment to the implementation of the continental trade agreement.

“We are indeed delighted because one of the major obstacles that we have faced in this journey of implementation of AfCFTA is the interoperability of our systems. All the Customs administrations cannot operate at the same level, but when we have interoperability, it becomes easier for us all to hook up to one system and get trade facilitation done,” Adeniyi said.

Earlier, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, said the Secretariat adopted Nigeria’s customs modernisation model after observing the country’s success in deploying digital technologies that have enhanced revenue collection and improved operational efficiency.