President Bola Tinubu has commended a Nigerian-owned company after an AfCFTA project worth billions of dollars was awarded to its subsidiary to modernise customs operations across Africa.
According to Channels Television, the 20-year AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project will be implemented by AfriTrade CMP Limited, a subsidiary of Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited.
The project will deploy digital and physical infrastructure to improve customs processes, cargo tracking, border management and trade-data exchange across participating African countries.
Tinubu said the development demonstrated Nigeria’s ability to develop solutions that could be adopted across the continent.
“What has been built and tested in Nigeria is now providing a model for the continent,” the President said in a statement by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga.
He said the initiative aligned with his administration’s Nigeria First policy, which seeks to create opportunities for Nigerian businesses to compete domestically, across Africa and globally.
Tinubu also commended Bergmans, AfriTrade CMP Limited, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and the Nigerian professionals involved in the programme.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene visited the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters in Abuja, where he inspected the country’s customs modernisation programme.
Mene described B’Odogwu, Nigeria’s indigenous Unified Customs Management System, as a model for Africa. He said AfCFTA opted for an African solution despite similar offers from non-African companies.
B’Odogwu was first piloted in October 2024 and has since become a key component of Nigeria’s customs modernisation efforts, 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 as a digital gateway for cross-border trade processes.
Tinubu said faster and cheaper movement of goods across African borders would be critical to achieving the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
