The African Continental Free Trade Area (ACfTA) on Sunday signaled that it wants to export a suite of Nigerian Customs’ digital reforms across the continent after its Secretary-General praised Nigeria’s home‑grown technology as a model for boosting trade and revenue collection.
Wamkele Mene, AfCFTA’s Secretary-General visited the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) headquarters in Abuja and held up the agency’s recent technology drive as a practical remedy for bureaucratic bottlenecks that still handicap many African borders.
During the visithe said manual customs processes in several countries contribute to “revenue leakages, border delays and low intra‑African trade,” and that Nigeria’s systems offered a replicable alternative.,
“What we have seen today is truly state‑of‑the‑art,” Mene said in a statement.
“I sincerely congratulate the NCS for what it has achieved within such a short period. We would like to work together and learn from what Nigeria has accomplished because this innovation has inherent benefits not only for Nigeria, but for the entire African continent.”
AfCFTA also singled out NCS’s new data centre as a strategic asset that could support countries lacking the funds or technical capacity to build similar infrastructure.
NewsQuest reports that the comments reflect a growing drive by continental institutions to close the digital gap that analysts say restricts intra‑African trade.
Adewale Adeniyi, the comptroller‑general of the NCS, welcomed the recognition and reiterated his agency’s commitment to further technological modernisation.
“We sincerely appreciate your passion for promoting intra‑African trade and strengthening the interconnectivity of customs systems across the continent,” Adeniyi said.
He added that the service would continue to “expand the frontiers of innovation, learning from global best practices while developing solutions that advance the peculiar interests of the African continent.”
Nigeria’s reforms come amid broader AfCFTA efforts to deepen economic integration across Africa’s 54 countries.
Trade experts say digitalising customs systems can reduce clearance times, plug revenue losses and make it easier for small exporters to access regional markets—but implementation faces hurdles, including funding, interoperability and uneven technical skills across administrations.
For now, AfCFTA has signalled a willingness to pilot or adapt the Nigerian model in partner countries, a step that could accelerate the rollout of cross‑border digital systems if matched with financing and governance arrangements.
