The Nigeria Customs Service and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs of the United Kingdom, HMRC, have advanced discussions towards finalising a Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement to strengthen information sharing, compliance and trade facilitation between the two countries.
The Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of the Strategic, Research and Policy Department, Nafi’u Isyaku, represented the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, at a high-level bilateral meeting with an HMRC delegation on Friday.
Isyaku said the engagement was part of efforts to conclude negotiations ahead of the proposed signing of the agreement in December.
He said; “negotiations had been conducted virtually for about six months before the two sides decided to hold a physical meeting at the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, to resolve outstanding issues.”
“The meeting is to finalise our Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement. We have been doing it virtually for some six months now. We decided to come here in person so that we can finalise the negotiations before the final signing, which hopefully is coming up in the first week of December during the World Customs Organisation Policy Commission meeting.” he said.
Speaking on the engagement, Senior Policy Adviser at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Syed Moinuddin, described the meeting as “an opportunity for both customs administrations to work through areas of cooperation and establish a framework that reflects the interests of the two authorities.”
He said the engagement had provided an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between Nigeria and UK within the wider customs family.
Also speaking, the Head of Bilateral Relations and Agreements at HMRC, Louisa Bentley said negotiations held over the two days had been successful and that both sides were close to finalising the agreement.
Bentley said; “The agreement would boost trade by improving compliance and information sharing between Nigeria and the UK, while also enhancing compliance and trade facilitation to both partners in global trade opportunities.”
She also commended the reforms being implemented by the Nigeria Customs following a tour of key facilities at the headquarters, including the Trade Modernisation Project Limited office, Pre-Arrival Assessment Report office and Nigeria Customs Broadcasting Network station.
“We have seen significant developments in technology and personnel training, adding that the reforms would support more modern and efficient trade processes.” Bentley said.
The bilateral meeting, which lasted from Thursday 25 to Friday 26 of September 2026, ended with a tour of key departments and units at the Customs headquarters, providing the HMRC delegation with an opportunity to see some of the reforms and operational developments being implemented by the Nigeria Customs.
