President says selection of Bergmans subsidiary validates Nigeria’s homegrown customs technology and expertise.
President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the selection of a Nigerian-owned company for a 20-year, multi-billion-dollar African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Customs Modernisation Project.
The project will be implemented through AfriTrade CMP Limited, a subsidiary of Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited, and will deploy digital and physical infrastructure to modernise customs processes, cargo tracking, border management and trade-data exchange across participating African countries.
Another Bergmans subsidiary, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, is currently implementing Nigeria’s homegrown customs modernisation programme.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu said the development demonstrated Nigeria’s capacity to develop solutions capable of serving the wider African market.
“What has been built and tested in Nigeria is now providing a model for the continent. This is how African integration should work: Africans building African solutions for African opportunities,” the President said.
President Tinubu said Nigeria must not only participate in Africa’s single market but also contribute the technology and infrastructure needed to make continental trade more efficient.
He added that the Federal Government would continue to support capable Nigerian businesses under its Nigeria First policy to compete locally, across Africa and globally.
The President commended Bergmans, AfriTrade CMP Limited, Trade Modernisation Project Limited, the Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller-General Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and Nigerian professionals involved in the project.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, who visited Abuja for the agreement, also toured the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters to observe the country’s customs modernisation programme.
Mene described B’Odogwu, Nigeria’s indigenous Unified Customs Management System, as a model for Africa, noting that AfCFTA opted for an African-developed solution despite receiving offers from non-African companies.
B’Odogwu, first piloted in October 2024, has become a major component of Nigeria’s customs reforms alongside cargo tracking, data infrastructure, surveillance, risk management and non-intrusive inspection systems.
The programme is also being integrated with the National Single Window, launched in March 2026 as a digital gateway for cross-border trade processes.
Senator Jibrin Isah, who led members of the Senate Committee on Customs during the visit, said lawmakers had been impressed by the system and would promote its adoption.
Tinubu said the success of AfCFTA would depend on the ability to move goods across African borders faster, more efficiently and at lower cost.
“Nigeria is ready to contribute its experience, innovation and enterprise to that future,” he added.