The Nigeria Customs Service and Benin Customs have launched a joint assessment of a One-Stop Border Post at Sèmè-Kraké to eliminate persistent bottlenecks and harmonise procedures.
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 along the strategic Nigeria-Benin trade corridor.
Speaking during the joint assessment ceremony at Sèmè-Kraké, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, said the exercise was designed to assess the operational readiness of the border and to review existing processes and facilities, as well as to demonstrate the border-modernisation solutions being deployed to support operations between the two customs administrations .
According to Adeniyi, the Sèmè-Kraké crossing occupies a strategic position on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, describing it as 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 said the border operates round the clock throughout the year, stressing that any delay at such a critical trade gateway has consequences far 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 said; “every hour saved at the border translates 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.
The Customs boss said; “Nigeria had therefore come to the Sèmè-Kraké border with a specific objective, to close the systems gaps and establish a more effective data-sharing arrangement among both administrations.”
According to him, “work is 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 ensure that declarations made on one side of the border could be seen by the other administration in real time, while transit consignments could be tracked from their point of origin to their final destination.
The risk profiles and enforcement alerts generated by one Customs administration would also be transmitted to the other while the information remained operationally useful.
He said the situation was particularly significant along the Nigeria-Benin corridor, noting that about 22 per cent of Benin’s informal exports are destined for Nigeria.
Adeniyi added that informal trade accounts for a significant share of economic activity in both countries, with its contribution particularly pronounced in Benin.
The Director-General of Benin Customs, Raouf Malehossou, also commended Nigeria for the initiative, saying closer integration of trade processes between the two countries would support economic growth across the sub-region.
Malehossou said the initiative would also promote coordinated risk management, one of the core principles of the World Customs Organisation.
He said; “To have a joint border post reduces stress for stakeholders, travellers and everyone that uses it. It gives birth to coordinated risk management, which is one of the core principles of the World Customs Organisation,
When there is smooth movement, stakeholders enjoy it, and when it is not smooth, they suffer it.”
The Sèmè–Kraké One-Stop Border Post is expected to strengthen coordination between Nigeria and Benin, and reduce duplication of controls and procedures.
