The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, has reaffirmed the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) commitment to working closely with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to advance intra-African trade, improve data integrity, and strengthen institutional collaboration across the continent.
Adeniyi made this known on Monday, November 3, 2025, during a courtesy visit to the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra, Ghana, where he led a delegation of senior Customs officials to discuss strategies for enhancing Customs efficiency and trade facilitation within the AfCFTA framework.
Speaking at the meeting, Adeniyi commended the Secretariat for its continuous engagement with Customs administrations, development partners, and trade operators across Africa. He noted that the collaboration has set the foundation for the upcoming Customs–Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT) Conference, scheduled to take place in Abuja from November 17 to 19, 2025.
“The AfCFTA Secretariat has been instrumental in mobilising African Customs and economic operators. Through our engagements, we now have a clear direction for the Abuja meeting,” he said. Adeniyi added that Customs administrations must take a leading role in addressing the continent’s long-standing trade data deficiencies.
He explained that the AfCFTA Secretariat’s structure, which brings together heads of Customs administrations under a single platform, represents a major step toward better coordination and should be institutionalised to ensure policy consistency. “Once institutionalised, the Customs Pact will serve as a permanent framework for collaboration,” he stated.
The Customs Chief identified weak data integration, fragmented policies, and poor inter-agency coordination as major barriers to Africa’s trade growth, stressing that overcoming these issues was essential to achieving the goals of the AfCFTA. He expressed confidence that the Abuja conference would set a new standard for Customs-led trade facilitation across the continent.
In his response, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, welcomed the Nigerian delegation and commended the Nigeria Customs Service for its leadership in promoting continental Customs cooperation. Mene described the Service as “a model institution” in advancing Africa’s trade integration agenda.
Mene highlighted ongoing efforts to address challenges affecting trade growth, including high logistics costs and limited coordination among agencies. He said the AfCFTA Secretariat is also working with the World Customs Organisation (WCO) to enhance digitalisation through e-certificates of origin and to develop a Single Bond Guarantee Scheme for cross-border transit.
He further disclosed that the Secretariat is considering institutionalising the C-PACT conference as an annual platform to sustain dialogue on Customs cooperation and trade data harmonisation. He said the initiative would strengthen the AfCFTA’s Annexe on Transit and promote efficiency across member states.
Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening collaboration between Customs administrations and the AfCFTA Secretariat. They expressed optimism that the upcoming Abuja C-PACT Conference would serve as a milestone for institutionalising Customs cooperation and advancing Africa’s goal of seamless intra-continental trade.
