The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has deepened its partnership with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to advance intra-African trade.
This followed a visit by Afreximbank President, Dr George Elombi, to NCS’s Comptroller-General (C-G), Bashir Adeniyi, at the service’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to a statement by the spokesperson of NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, on Sunday in Abuja, the visit aimed to strengthen trade facilitation, enhance customs cooperation and accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Maiwada said that the engagement provided both institutions with an opportunity to review the progress of their collaboration and identify new areas of cooperation to promote seamless cross-border trade and regional economic integration.
Meanwhile, the C-G described the partnership as one built on a shared vision of unlocking Africa’s economic potential through stronger trade cooperation among African countries.
He said that the collaboration had continued to yield tangible results in customs modernisation and trade facilitation, particularly through initiatives designed to harmonise customs procedures and improve the movement of goods across the continent.
“We are building a partnership between the two sides, a partnership founded on a single conviction that Africa’s best trading partners are within Africa itself and our prosperity will be built on the trade we conduct within ourselves.
“From Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT) to our ongoing work on trade facilitation, we are turning that conviction into practical cooperation,” he said.
He said the renewed partnership would support Afreximbank’s regional transit initiatives, accelerate the development of one-stop border posts along key trade corridors and promote the adoption of global best practices to strengthen customs administration.
According to him, the service is already recording positive outcomes from the bank’s support for regional transit systems.
He expressed confidence that the collaboration would further boost Africa’s competitiveness and opportunities for legitimate trade.
On his part, Elombi, also the chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, reaffirmed the bank’s readiness to expand its support for initiatives that facilitate trade and strengthen the implementation of the AfCFTA.
He described the service’s approach as a demonstration of strong institutional commitment to transforming trade across the continent.
The meeting also reviewed the successful collaboration between the institutions on the maiden edition of C-PACT held in 2025 in Abuja.
The event brought together customs administrators, development partners and private sector stakeholders to harmonise customs procedures, strengthen institutional capacity and improve connectivity across Africa’s trading systems.
