Customs Deepens Stakeholder Engagement to Tackle Cargo Clearance Challenges

BY FUNMI ALUKO

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Monday, 11 August 2025 convened a high-level stakeholders’ engagement meeting to address emerging issues affecting the maritime industry and cargo clearance processes and ensure seamless trade facilitation.

Speaking at the forum held at Apapa Area Command, the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, restated that the deployment of the Unified Customs Management System (UCMS), codenamed B’Odogwu, remains a firm and irreversible policy direction.

“On B’Odogwu, there is no going back. We have to forge ahead with what we have started. We know there will be issues, which is why, before now, we met with some authorised banks, and that engagement has yielded positive results”, Adeniyi said.

According to a release by the public relations department of the NCS, the CGC stressed the Service’s readiness to maintain open communication with stakeholders. “It’s our intent to always listen to you patiently, so we have brought everyone together today as equal partners in this project,” he added.

The Comptroller General disclosed that some challenges have already been resolved through joint efforts, while work continues on others. He also raised concern over recent attempts to compromise the Service’s digital infrastructure.

Customs Spokesman, AC Maiwada

“Just over the weekend, there were reports of individuals trying to infiltrate our system. There were several attempts, and the whole idea was to render our system inefficient. I want to remind you that such nefarious acts constitute economic sabotage, which we will not spare. On our part, we will continue to strengthen our system firewalls to prevent future downtimes”, he said.

The engagement concluded with an interactive session, during which stakeholders shared their perspectives and concerns on maritime sector operations, with a collective resolve to work towards efficiency and transparency in cargo clearance.