Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — In furtherance of its commitment to enhancing international customs cooperation and advancing trade facilitation, the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has strengthened its strategic engagement with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, HMRC, of the United Kingdom. This development followed a high-level bilateral meeting held in London under the framework of the Nigeria–United Kingdom Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership, ETIP, on the margins of the State Visit of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the United Kingdom.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and Ms Megan Shaw, Head of International Customs and Border Engagement at HMRC, led the bilateral engagement. Discussions centred on advancing customs modernization, strengthening data transparency in bilateral trade flows, and expanding operational cooperation between both administrations, with a view to improving efficiency and integrity across the Nigeria–United Kingdom trade corridor.
The Comptroller-General emphasized that effective customs cooperation remains a critical enabler of economic growth and sustainable trade development. He noted that Nigeria and the United Kingdom share a long-standing economic relationship supported by active trade across key sectors, including industrial goods, agriculture, energy, and consumer products. He further stated that customs administrations serve as the front-line institutions responsible for ensuring that trade flows between both countries are transparent, secure, and mutually beneficial.
Both administrations acknowledged the existence of some gaps in bilateral trade data, identifying it as a structural issue requiring coordinated resolution.
Available statistics indicate that while approximately £504 million in UK-origin goods were recorded as imports into Nigeria in 2024, the United Kingdom reported exports to Nigeria valued at approximately £1.7 billion for the same period. To address this gap, both parties agreed to explore establishing a structured pre-arrival data exchange framework between their respective digital customs platforms to enhance risk management, improve data reconciliation, and strengthen compliance monitoring.
Furthermore, the engagement provided an opportunity for both administrations to present their respective customs modernization programmes, including the United Kingdom’s advancements in artificial intelligence-driven trade tools, digital verification systems, and real-time analytics capabilities.
The discussions underscored the importance of deeper collaboration in technology deployment and digital border management, while also producing key outcomes, including the development of a Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Framework, the commencement of technical scoping for capacity-building and knowledge exchange, and the establishment of a joint technical engagement mechanism under the ETIP framework.
The NCS reiterated its commitment to deepening international partnerships as part of its broader modernization agenda to promote transparency, efficiency, and competitiveness in Nigeria’s trading environment. The Service also assures stakeholders that insights from this engagement will strengthen its operational capacity, enhance trade facilitation, and support Nigeria’s economic reform objectives under the Renewed Hope programme.
