ZAINAB JUNAID
The Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, has commended the Nigeria Customs Service for its outstanding performance in surpassing its revenue target by 20 percent.
Honourable Minister, Wale Edun
The Minister gave the commendation at the recently concluded 4th World Customs Organisations (WCO) Donors Conference for the West and Central African (WCA) Region, held from 7-11 April 2025 in Abuja.
Declaring the conference open, Minister Edun expressed enthusiasm about the agency’s performance, citing a 90 percent increase in revenue collection.
He said, “I am proud to commend the Nigeria Customs Service for its remarkable performance—achieving a 90 percent increase in revenue collection and surpassing its target by 20 percent. These achievements, driven by modernised processes and WCO-supported initiatives, illustrate how strategic investments and technology can revolutionise trade and strengthen regional integration.”
In his remarks, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, addressed the persistent technical and operational challenges confronting customs administrations in the region.
He identified limited digital infrastructure and poor interconnectivity among key issues hindering trade facilitation.
“Our region faces significant hurdles, from the rapid evolution of e-commerce to the complexities of technical procedures.
“However, Nigeria has made innovative strides with initiatives such as deploying the indigenously developed B’Odogwu platform, installing advanced scanners, and the comprehensive training of over 5,000 Officers,” he said.
CGC Adeniyi also outlined five strategic initiatives requiring donor support, which includes -adopting artificial intelligence for anti-smuggling operations, developing a Regional Single Window system, and expanding digital infrastructure to enhance inter-agency collaboration and trade transparency.
The conference, which brought together distinguished delegates, including Mr. Ebenezer Tafili, representing the Secretary General of the WCO; Mr Amadou Konaté, Vice-Chair of WCO-WCA and Director-General of Mali Customs; Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency; several heads of customs, donor agencies, Nigeria owned Trade Modernisation Project (TMP) Limited, diplomatic representatives, and industry stakeholders; marked the first WCO-WCA donors’ conference since the COVID-19 Pandemic.
According to World Customs Organisations, the Conference addressed the topic of “Partner mobilization around the priority projects of the WCO’s WCA region: a genuine pledge to meet the modernization goals and performance targets of Member Customs administrations”.
The main objectives are: To underline the importance of modernization and performance within the Customs administrations for fostering economic development and security in the WCO’s WCA region; To promote the reform and modernization of WCA Customs administrations, particularly with regard to smart Customs; To establish and strengthen the network and dialogue between the WCA Customs administrations and the development partners operating in the region; To raise awareness within Customs administrations in the WCA region of the priorities, initiatives and feedback of those partners providing technical or financial assistance to the region; And to present and coordinate regional and national initiatives, and to mobilize funds for their implementation.
