The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) enters alliance with the Benin Republic Customs Administration on the harmonization of cross border trade procedures
By Innocent Chukwu
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its counterpart in Benin Republic, the Benin Republic Customs Administration, have engaged each other on ways to achieve seamless trade partnership between the duo in the future. The event took place on Friday, September 11, 2026 at Seme-Krake Customs Command, Badagry, Lagos.
The event which theme is, “Joint Nigeria-Benin Republic One Stop Border Post Assessment at Seme Krake”, focused on “leveraging the Nigeria Customs Service Trade Modernization Project to advance seamless cross order trade shared prosperity”.
The two Customs Administrations conducted a joint assessment of the One-Stop Border Post as part of their efforts to deepen regional economic integration, harmonise cross-border procedures, reduce trade barriers and facilitate the seamless movement of legitimate goods and services between both countries.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs (CGC ) Dr. Adewale Adeniyi, said the objective of the assessment is to review the operational readiness, observe border processes and facilities and demonstrate the Border – Modernization solution supporting secure cross-border interoperability between Nigeria and Benin.
Adeniyi also said that the Seme–Kraké border sits on the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor which carries over 70 per cent of the whole sub-region’s transit trade. Adeniyi also said the border is among the busiest land crossings in West Africa and, by many accounts, on the African continent.
The CGC explained that the border operates round the clock, every day of the year.
Adeniyi: “Every hour lost at this gate is multiplied across thousands of consignment and tens of thousands of travellers, and is paid for in the price of goods in markets from Cotonou to Lagos. Conversely, an hour saved here is saved for the whole region. There are few places on this continent where the ratio between effort and effect is as favourable as it is at this crossing.
“Two administrations presently work under one roof, but they do not work on one system. There is still no seamless real-time exchange of declarations, manifests, transit information, risk profiles or enforcement alerts between us
“That is why the Nigeria Customs Service has come to Sèmè–Kraké with a specific offer. We are here to close the systems gap. Work is under way on the interconnection of our two administrations through a common data exchange arrangement, building on the regional transit experience we have both gained, so that a declaration lodged on one side is visible on the other in real time, so that transit can be tracked from origin to destination, and so that a risk profile or an enforcement alert raised by one administration reaches the other while it is still useful.
“I want to turn now to a group of people who are easy to overlook at a ceremony of this kind, and who are the majority of those who actually use this border. Across Africa, women make up more than 70 per cent of those engaged in informal cross-border trade.
“On this corridor the pattern is pronounced. Some 22 per cent of Benin’s informal exports are destined for Nigeria. Informal trade is estimated to account for a fifth of economic activity in Nigeria and a far higher share in Benin.”
Adeniyi commended the Customs administration of Benin Republic for the trust and confidence it has in the leadership of the Nigeria Customs to drive the initiative of the One Stop Border Port.
On his part, the Benin Customs Administration’s Director General, Raouf Malehossou, commended Nigeria for the initiative to integrate trade within the Sub-region for economic growth.
