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Nigeria and Benin Republic are stepping up efforts to reduce the cost and time of cross-border trade along the strategic Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, with both countries conducting a joint assessment of the Seme-Krake One-Stop Border Post.
The exercise is aimed at closing operational and technology gaps that continue to slow the movement of legitimate cargo, travellers and services between the two countries, while strengthening customs cooperation and regional trade integration.
At the joint assessment in Seme-Krake border town on Friday, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Dr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, said the initiative would focus on improving border processes, assessing operational readiness and deploying technology to enable secure interoperability between the two customs administrations.
Adeniyi said the economic significance of the crossing made efficiency at the border critical to the competitiveness of businesses across West Africa, particularly as Seme-Krake serves as a major gateway on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor.
According to him, the corridor handles about 70 percent of the sub-region’s transit trade and the Seme-Krake crossing ranks among the busiest land borders in West Africa, making delays at the gateway a direct cost to businesses, consumers and regional economies.
He said the border operates 24 hours a day throughout the year, stressing that inefficiencies at such a critical trade gateway have consequences far beyond the immediate border community.
“Every hour lost at this gate is multiplied across thousands of consignments and tens of thousands of travellers, and is paid for in the price of goods in markets from Cotonou to Lagos,” Adeniyi said.
He noted that while the two customs administrations currently operate from the same facility, their systems are yet to achieve seamless real-time information exchange.
The NCS boss identified the absence of real-time exchange of customs declarations, manifests, transit information, risk profiles and enforcement alerts as a major gap that must be addressed to unlock the full potential of the One-Stop Border Post.
He disclosed that work was already underway to interconnect the two administrations through a common data exchange arrangement, building on their experience with regional transit systems.
Under the proposed arrangement, a customs declaration lodged on one side of the border would be visible to the other administration in real time, while transit consignments could be tracked from origin to destination.
Adeniyi added that risk assessments and enforcement alerts generated by one administration would also be transmitted to its counterpart while the information remained operationally useful.
Beyond technology and cargo clearance, he said the modernisation programme must also take into account the large population of informal traders who depend on the corridor for their livelihoods, particularly women.
He noted that women account for more than 70 percent of informal cross-border traders across Africa, adding that the pattern was particularly significant along the Nigeria-Benin trade corridor.
Adeniyi said about 22 percent of Benin’s informal exports are destined for Nigeria, while informal trade is estimated to account for about one-fifth of economic activity in Nigeria and a substantially higher proportion in Benin.
He commended the Benin Customs administration for its confidence in Nigeria Customs and its support for efforts to strengthen the One-Stop Border Post.
The Director General of Benin Customs, Raouf Malehossou, also commended Nigeria for championing deeper customs and trade integration, describing stronger regional cooperation as essential to unlocking economic growth within the sub-region.
