Home-grown B’Odogwu platform to be deployed across about 50 countries as ICRC says Nigeria is moving from technology importer to exporter…..
Nigeria’s home-grown customs modernisation system is set for a major expansion across Africa after the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) adopted the country’s model for a proposed $3.1 billion continental customs reform programme.
The development is being viewed by Nigeria’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) as a significant milestone for the country’s public-private partnership (PPP) framework and its growing capacity to develop infrastructure and technology solutions for export.
The move followed the signing of a 20-year concession agreement between the AfCFTA Secretariat and Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Limited, the parent company of the Trade Modernisation Project (TMP).
Under the agreement, the Nigerian customs modernisation model is expected to be deployed across about 50 AfCFTA member states, potentially giving the system a reach spanning a continental market of approximately 1.3 billion people.
The ICRC Director-General, Dr Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, said the adoption of the Nigerian system demonstrated that a properly structured PPP could generate benefits far beyond the country where the project was originally developed.
According to him, the significance of the deal goes beyond the export of technology because the system was developed locally and first tested within the Nigerian Customs Service before gaining consideration for wider African deployment.
“Africa is not just adopting a piece of technology. Africa is adopting a Nigerian idea, built by Nigerians, proven on Nigerian soil, and now trusted to carry the trade ambitions of an entire continent,” Ewalefoh said.
Ewalefoh spoke in Abuja after a monitoring and compliance visit to the Nigerian customs modernisation project, where he inspected the implementation of B’Odogwu, the Unified Customs Management System being deployed by the Nigeria Customs Service.
B’Odogwu is at the centre of the Customs Service’s digital transformation programme and is designed to modernise customs procedures, streamline trade transactions and improve revenue collection.
The ICRC chief has a long history with the project. Before becoming Director-General of the commission, he served as the ICRC desk officer responsible for the initiative during its early structuring stages.
He recalled that the project initially faced doubts over whether the proposed technology would work and whether the private-sector concessionaire had the capacity to deliver it.
“When this project came on board, there were a lot of doubts. We asked ourselves: will this work, can we trust the capacity of the proponent? But today, what we are seeing is amazing,” he said.
The project also had to overcome institutional resistance before gaining acceptance.
Ewalefoh described it as the first project in Nigeria to be implemented as a presidential initiative through a PPP arrangement, saying strong backing from the highest levels of government was crucial to its progress.
“There was commitment at the highest level. Everybody was there; the project was structured. This is the first project in the history of this country that was executed as a presidential initiative, through a PPP,” he said.
For the ICRC, perhaps the most significant aspect of the AfCFTA deal is the fact that Nigeria is moving from being predominantly a market for imported technology to becoming a supplier of solutions to other African countries.
Ewalefoh said the project should strengthen confidence in Nigerian engineers, technology companies and other professionals capable of developing systems for African markets.
“It should be our pride that Nigeria can sell something to the rest of Africa. We are not selling a solution built by a foreign company; we are selling an indigenous Nigerian company to the world,” he said.
He said Nigerian engineers and other local professionals played a central role in developing the system, making the project an example of how local expertise could be transformed into an exportable economic asset.
The ICRC chief also praised the working relationship between the Nigeria Customs Service and TMP, arguing that private-sector participation had not diminished the government’s role.
“There is proper synergy between the grantor and the concessionaire. The result we are seeing today speaks for itself,” he said.
Ewalefoh identified resistance to change as one of the biggest obstacles to implementing major reforms in Nigeria.
According to him, the challenge confronting projects of this nature is often less about a shortage of ideas or funding and more about overcoming institutional and individual resistance to new ways of working.
“The biggest challenge is not ideas, the biggest challenge is not funding — the biggest challenge is resistance to change,” he said.
He commended the Nigeria Customs Service for embracing technology and allowing private-sector expertise to play a role in modernising its operations.
He also credited Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, with helping to drive the expansion of B’Odogwu across Customs commands.
The continued rollout of the platform, he said, had helped build confidence in Nigeria’s customs modernisation programme and contributed to the decision to consider the model for wider adoption under AfCFTA.
The continental deal comes at a time when African countries are seeking more efficient customs systems to support the implementation of the AfCFTA and increase intra-African trade.
A customs platform capable of improving processing, reducing administrative bottlenecks and strengthening revenue collection could have implications far beyond individual national customs administrations.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said Nigeria’s experience demonstrated the potential of technology to transform the way customs administrations operate.
The agreement with Bergmans therefore represents more than the expansion of a Nigerian technology platform. It provides an example of how a locally developed PPP project can potentially be scaled across multiple countries.
The ICRC is also presenting the project as evidence of how private capital can be deployed to finance strategic infrastructure without placing the entire burden on government finances.
Ewalefoh linked the development to the Federal Government’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy under the Renewed Hope Development Plan 2026–2030, which places significant emphasis on private investment.
He argued that projects structured around private capital could help government deliver major infrastructure while limiting the need for additional public borrowing.
“Every naira of private investment that goes into infrastructure like this is a naira the government does not have to borrow, while the returns, in revenue and efficiency, still accrue to the country,” he said.
The ICRC pointed to other major concession projects, including the Lekki Deep Sea Port, as examples of how private-sector participation can be used to deliver strategic infrastructure.
Ewalefoh said the selection of Bergmans for the AfCFTA initiative reflected a broader shift in Nigeria’s economic role on the continent.
“Nigeria is no longer only a market but a supplier of solutions to Africa — the kind of enterprise the $1 trillion agenda is built on,” he said.
The AfCFTA agreement also follows renewed calls for closer cooperation among African countries on PPP development.
Only weeks earlier, Ewalefoh had spoken at the ECOWAS Infrastructure Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where he advocated stronger collaboration among national PPP institutions in West Africa.
He proposed a regional network through which PPP agencies could exchange technical expertise, establish common standards and improve the preparation of cross-border infrastructure projects.
The adoption of Nigeria’s customs modernisation model now offers a practical example of how such regional cooperation could work.
“What we are seeing with AfCFTA today is the regional cooperation I called for in Abidjan taking concrete shape; one country’s well-regulated PPP can become the infrastructure backbone of an entire continent,” Ewalefoh said.
The ICRC also rejected concerns that PPP-led modernisation could result in widespread job losses.
Instead, the commission said the customs project had created opportunities for Nigerian engineers and technical professionals while supporting improvements in customs operations and revenue collection.
The experience, it argued, demonstrates that private-sector participation, when backed by effective regulation, can support government revenue, employment and technological development at the same time.
With the Nigerian customs model now being considered for deployment across about 50 AfCFTA member states, a project that began as a domestic attempt to modernise Nigeria’s border and revenue systems is potentially becoming one of the country’s most significant technology and infrastructure exports to the rest of Africa.
