By Femi Anamelechi
The Nigeria Customs Service and the Benin Republic Customs Administration have commenced innovative plans for seamless cross-border trade with a joint assessment of the Seme-Krake border towards a enhancing One Stop Border Post.The Interoperable system for one stop boarder post was conducted on Friday, 11 September 2026, and was led by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, and the Director General of Benin Republic Customs, Colonel Raouf Aboudou.In his address at the event during the visit, CGC Adeniyi said the initiative demonstrates a new level of trust and confidence between both countries and positions Customs at the forefront of Africa’s trade agenda.He noted that just as traders have built confidence to transact across borders without meeting, regulators must also extend that trust to each other. “Today’s assessment visit is the first major step, we are taking in the manifestation of that trust. We have built a computer system that is going to be interoperable, that will be able to connect with each other, so that even when the trader is from Nigeria is bringing Naira and the trader from Seme is bringing Cefa, the system that we have will interconnect the two of them and will make trading very, very seamless,” Adeniyi said. He added that getting the system right would allow both countries to harmonise other trade policies, including prohibition lists, for deeper economic integration.
“If we get the connectivity of our system right, we can build every other thing on top of this. We can begin to harmonise our prohibition lists. And that will be the beginning of a more meaningful economic integration between our economies.”The Director General of Benin Republic Customs, Colonel Raouf Aboudou, described CGC Adeniyi as a pragmatic leader. He said the Joint Border Modernisation Initiative aligns with coordinated Risk Management, one of the core values of the World Customs Organisation (WCO).Also speaking, the Customs Area Controller, Seme Area Command, Comptroller Abdullahi Kaila, said the assessment came at a critical time for the sub-region’s busiest trade corridor. He stated that a fully functional One Stop Border Post would eliminate procedural bottlenecks, reduce transit times and improve transparency, assuring that the Seme Area Command was prepared to support the transformational initiative.
