The Nigeria Customs Service and Benin Customs have commenced a joint assessment of the One-Stop Border Post at Sèmè-Kraké to eliminate persistent bottlenecks and harmonise procedures along the Nigeria-Benin trade corridor.
The initiative is aimed at reducing cross-border trade barriers, strengthening regional economic integration and ensuring faster, safer and more seamless movement of legitimate goods and services between the two countries.
Speaking during the joint assessment ceremony at Sèmè-Kraké, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, said the exercise was designed to assess the operational readiness of the border, review existing processes and facilities, and demonstrate border-modernisation solutions being deployed to support operations between the two Customs administrations.
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Adeniyi described the Sèmè-Kraké crossing as strategically important to the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, noting that it was one of the busiest land borders in West Africa and a critical gateway for regional trade.
“The corridor carries about 70 percent of the sub-region’s transit trade, making efficiency at the border crucial to the economies of both countries and the wider West African region,” Adeniyi stated.
He stressed that the border operated round the clock throughout the year, noting that delays at such a critical trade gateway had consequences beyond the immediate border community.
“A corridor of that weight does not fail quietly. Every hour lost at this gate is multiplied across thousands of consignments and tens of thousands of travellers, and is paid for in the price of goods in markets from Cotonou to Lagos,” Adeniyi said.
He explained that every hour saved at the border translated into savings for traders, transporters, consumers and businesses across the region.
“An hour saved here is saved for the whole region. There are few places on this continent where the ratio between effort and effect is as favourable as it is at this crossing.”
Despite the physical integration provided by the One-Stop Border Post, Adeniyi acknowledged that significant technological and operational gaps remained between the two Customs administrations.
He disclosed that although both administrations currently operated under one roof, they did not yet have a fully integrated digital platform.
“There is still no seamless real-time exchange of declarations, manifests, transit information, risk profiles or enforcement alerts between us,” he said.
The Customs boss explained that Nigeria had therefore come to the Sèmè-Kraké border with the objective of closing the systems gaps and establishing a more effective data-sharing arrangement between the two administrations.
According to Adeniyi, work was already underway to interconnect the two Customs administrations through a common data exchange arrangement, building on their experience with regional transit operations.
He said the proposed system would enable declarations made on one side of the border to be seen by the other administration in real time, while transit consignments could be tracked from their point of origin to their final destination.
