AfCFTA seals $3.1b deal to modernise Africa’s customs

Bashir Adeniyi Centre for International Trade and Investment (BACITI) of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) has urged Nigeria to move beyond celebrating foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.

He advised Nigeria to instead prioritise investments that expand domestic production, strengthen local firms and position the country more competitively within African and global value chains.
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This is contained in the Centre’s July 2026 edition of BACITI Economic Insight, titled ‘Global FDI Rebounds, But Africa Is Losing Share: Implications of the World Investment Report 2026 for Nigeria.’

It noted that the country’s policy objective should not be to attract FDI at any cost, but to secure investments that deepen productive capacity, create jobs and improve competitiveness.
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BACITI also cautioned that while Nigeria’s recent rebound in foreign investment reflected renewed investor confidence, the country must now focus on converting those inflows into long-term economic transformation.
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It noted that success should be measured by productive capacity, non-oil exports, electricity supplied to industry, skilled employment, technology transfer, local supplier development and reinvestment by existing investors rather than by the volume of capital inflows alone.
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It added that Nigeria faced a strategic choice between remaining primarily a market for resource extraction or becoming an integrated African production, logistics, energy and services hub, stressing that achieving the latter would require reliable power, efficient trade infrastructure, predictable regulations and sustained investment in sectors capable of driving exports and productivity growth.

MEANWHILE, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has formally executed a 20-year $3.1 billion Concession Agreement with Bergmans Security Consultant and Supplies Limited for the implementation of the AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project (ACMP).

The signing ceremony took place at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and came weeks after the two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at transforming customs administration and facilitating seamless trade across Africa.

The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, signed on behalf of the continental body while the Chairman of Bergmans, Saleh Ahmadu, signed for the company.

Speaking after the concession was executed, the AfCFTA Secretary-General praised Bergmans for the unprecedented changes it has brought to Nigeria’s Customs Service through digitalisation and other technology- driven innovations, which he said had helped to improve clearance operations speed, reduced time and drastically brought down corruption while revenue inflow has more than tripled.

On his part, Ahmadu said with the execution of the concession, the company was good to go and ready to invest $3.1 billion, saying among its obligations was the deployment of continent-wide digital and physical customs infrastructure designed to modernise Customs procedures, improve trade corridors and simplify the cross-border movement of goods among AfCFTA state parties.