The Nigeria Customs Service has restated its commitment to strengthening its partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to boost trade across the continent and improve data accuracy for economic growth.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, gave this assurance during a courtesy visit to the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra, Ghana, where discussions centred on enhancing Customs efficiency and expanding trade opportunities for African nations.
He praised the AfCFTA Secretariat for bringing together key stakeholders including Customs administrations, development partners, and private sector operators to support Africa’s trade development. According to him, “the AfCFTA Secretariat has been instrumental in coordinating Customs and economic operators across Africa. We now have a clear roadmap for the Abuja conference.”
Adeniyi explained that the existing collaboration between both institutions has paved the way for the upcoming Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade Conference scheduled to take place in Abuja from November 17 to 19. He noted that African Customs administrations must take the lead in resolving gaps in trade data across the continent, stressing that “Customs must play a front line role in addressing trade data deficiencies, and I have accepted this challenge to work closely with my counterparts across Africa.”
He also emphasised the need to strengthen the unified framework created by the AfCFTA Secretariat which brings together all heads of Customs administrations under a single platform for improved coordination. Once fully implemented through the Customs Pact, this framework is expected to enhance consistency in Customs policies and trade facilitation across African borders.
While identifying weak data integration, fragmented policies, and poor inter agency collaboration as major challenges facing the continent, Adeniyi expressed confidence that the C PACT Conference will deliver practical solutions and promote data driven decision making across Africa’s trade system. He believes the conference will set a new standard for Customs cooperation to support the successful implementation of the AfCFTA agreement.
Responding, the Secretary General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, commended the Nigeria Customs Service for showing leadership in strengthening regional Customs cooperation. He said the Secretariat will continue to collaborate with Customs and trade institutions to address limited logistics infrastructure, high transport costs, and weak coordination, adding that the conference in Abuja offers a platform to develop long term solutions to support trade growth across Africa.