The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, has commended the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for its digital reforms, urging African countries to adopt the Service’s indigenous technology to modernise customs administration across the continent.

Mene made the call on Thursday, August 6, 2026, during a working visit to the NCS headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, where he described Nigeria’s technology-driven reforms as a practical African solution to longstanding challenges in customs administration, trade facilitation and revenue collection.

He said many African countries still depend on manual customs processes, contributing to revenue leakages, border delays and limited intra-African trade. According to him, Nigeria’s progress in digitalising customs operations provides a model that can be adapted by other countries.

“What we have seen today is truly state-of-the-art. I sincerely congratulate the NCS for what it has achieved within such a short period,” Mene said, expressing AfCFTA’s readiness to collaborate with the Service and learn from its innovations.

The AfCFTA Secretary-General also described the NCS data centre as a strategic continental asset, saying it could support African countries that lack the resources to establish similar digital infrastructure and demonstrate the continent’s capacity to develop and manage critical technology locally.

Responding, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, thanked Mene for recognising the Service’s modernisation efforts and reaffirmed its commitment to developing technology-driven solutions that reflect Africa’s trade realities and support the objectives of AfCFTA.

Adeniyi said the NCS would continue to expand its innovation drive while learning from global best practices and developing solutions tailored to the needs of the continent. He also pledged stronger collaboration with AfCFTA and other African customs administrations to promote digital integration and facilitate legitimate trade.

‎The Comptroller-General said the recognition by the continental trade body had further strengthened the Service’s resolve to sustain its modernisation agenda, deepen regional economic cooperation and contribute to increased intra-African trade through more efficient and interconnected customs systems.