By Isaac Mission
Nigeria’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for modernising the country’s customs operations is set to be replicated across Africa under a $3.1 billion AfCFTA customs modernisation project.
The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, disclosed this in Abuja, describing the development as a major recognition of Nigeria’s capacity to develop and deliver homegrown infrastructure solutions.
According to Ewalefoh, the model behind Nigeria’s Customs Modernisation Project, also known as the e-Customs Project, is being adopted by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for a continental customs initiative expected to cover about 50 member countries and serve a market of approximately 1.3 billion people.
The development follows the signing of a 20-year concession agreement between the AfCFTA Secretariat and Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Limited, the parent company of Trade Modernisation Project Limited (TMP).
Ewalefoh explained that the significance of the agreement goes beyond the deployment of customs technology. He said AfCFTA was adopting a PPP structure that was developed and regulated in Nigeria and had already been applied to the country’s customs modernisation programme.
He said the Nigerian experience demonstrated how properly structured PPPs could attract private-sector capital and expertise to strategic public projects while improving government revenue and operational efficiency.
The ICRC boss noted that Nigeria’s Customs Modernisation Project was developed as a PPP, with the commission responsible for facilitating, structuring and regulating the arrangement. TMP operates the project as a special-purpose vehicle, while Bergmans serves as its parent company.
At the centre of Nigeria’s customs transformation is B’Odogwu, a digital platform developed under the Customs Modernisation Project to support customs operations.
Ewalefoh stressed that the AfCFTA project represents the replication of the underlying Nigerian PPP framework rather than simply exporting the B’Odogwu platform.
He recalled that the Nigerian project initially faced doubts and resistance, particularly regarding the capacity of the private-sector partner to deliver the proposed transformation. However, he said the project had since demonstrated that institutional resistance to change, rather than a lack of funding or ideas, was often the greatest obstacle to major reforms.
He also commended the Nigerian Customs Service and Comptroller-General Bashir Adeniyi for supporting the implementation of B’Odogwu across customs commands.
According to him, Nigeria’s decision to promote an indigenous solution instead of relying solely on foreign technology providers represents an important achievement for the country’s technological and economic ambitions.
Ewalefoh said the development showed that Nigeria was increasingly moving from being merely a consumer market to becoming a supplier of solutions to other African countries.
He further linked the achievement to Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy, arguing that properly structured PPPs could attract investment, strengthen public-sector efficiency and generate additional revenue.
The ICRC director-general had previously advocated greater regional cooperation on PPPs at the ECOWAS Infrastructure Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
He said the AfCFTA development demonstrated that such regional cooperation was beginning to take practical shape, with successful PPP models from individual countries capable of being adapted to support infrastructure development across the continent.
