The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has stated that Nigeria’s home-grown customs modernisation model is now set to be adopted across Africa as the African Continental Free Trade Area adopted the country’s electronic customs system as the template for a $3.1bn project to modernise Customs across Africa. The ICRC in a statement on Tuesday by the acting Head, Media and Publicity, Ifeanyi Nwoko stated that the development marked a major validation of Nigeria’s public-private partnership framework, with the indigenous solution developed for the Nigeria Customs Service now expected to support trade across about 50 African countries. The AfCFTA Secretariat recently signed a 20-year, $3.1bn concession agreement with Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Limited, the parent company of Trade Modernisation Project, to deploy the AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project across member states. The project is expected to support the development of a more integrated customs system for the African single market, which has a population of about 1.3 billion people. The Director-General of the ICRC, Dr Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday while reacting to the adoption of Nigeria’s Customs Modernisation Project as the model for the continental initiative. “Nigeria’s Public-Private Partnership model is blazing a trail for Africa’s trade future, with a home-grown, indigenously built solution now serving as the template for a $3.1 bn continental customs modernisation drive under the African Continental Free Trade Area.” the DG said. Ewalefoh said the development demonstrated that Nigeria could move beyond being a consumer of technology and become an exporter of indigenous solutions to other African countries. He said the adoption of the Nigerian model was also evidence that properly structured PPP arrangements could deliver large-scale infrastructure and technology projects without placing the entire financial burden on government. “Africa is not just adopting a piece of technology. Africa is adopting a Nigerian idea, built by Nigerians, proven on Nigerian soil, and now trusted to carry the trade ambitions of an entire continent. This is what PPPs, properly structured and properly regulated, can deliver,” he said. The ICRC DG spoke days after undertaking a monitoring and compliance visit to the Trade Modernisation Project, where he assessed progress on B’Odogwu, the Unified Customs Management System developed under the PPP arrangement. The AfCFTA Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, had said the Nigerian experience demonstrated how technology could transform customs administration. According to Mene, the progress recorded under Nigeria’s customs modernisation programme gave the continental body the confidence to replicate the model across Africa. The ICRC said the Trade Modernisation Project was part of a wider record of PPP projects showing how private capital could support infrastructure development in Nigeria. It cited the Lekki Deep Sea Port as another example of a major infrastructure project delivered through a concession arrangement involving private investment. The commission said such projects were particularly important to Nigeria’s ambition to build a $1tn economy under the Renewed Hope Development Plan 2026-2030, which envisages significant private-sector participation in financing infrastructure and economic development.
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