President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the growing continental recognition of Nigeria’s customs modernisation programme, 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.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu commended Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited, saying the development validates Nigeria’s capacity to build homegrown solutions for the wider African market.
The project, to be implemented through Bergmans’ subsidiary, AfriTrade CMP Limited, will deploy digital and physical infrastructure to improve customs processes, cargo tracking, border management and trade-data exchange across participating African countries.
President Tinubu said what has been built and tested in Nigeria is now providing a model for the continent, stressing that African integration should involve Africans building solutions for African opportunities.
The President reaffirmed his administration’s commitment, under the Nigeria First policy, to creating opportunities for capable Nigerian businesses to compete at home, across Africa and globally.
He also commended Bergmans, AfriTrade CMP Limited, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and Nigerian professionals whose work, he said, had earned continental confidence.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, who was in Abuja for the agreement, also visited the headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service to inspect Nigeria’s customs modernisation programme.
Members of the Senate Committee on Customs, led by Senator Jibrin Isah, joined the visit at the conclusion 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, noting that although similar services had been offered by non-African companies, AfCFTA chose an African solution, underscoring the importance of African innovation and excellence.
Senator Jibrin Isah said members of his committee had become ambassadors of the system after seeing its operations firsthand.
B’Odogwu, which was first piloted in October 2024, has become central to customs modernisation in Nigeria, alongside cargo tracking, data infrastructure, surveillance, risk management and non-intrusive inspection.
The programme is also being integrated with the National Single Window, launched in March 2026 to provide a single digital gateway for cross-border trade processes.
President Tinubu says the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area will be realised when goods can move across African borders faster, at lower cost and with fewer barriers.
He reaffirmed Nigeria’s readiness to contribute its experience, innovation and enterprise towards building an efficient and integrated African single market.