The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has convened a high-level stakeholders’ meeting to address emerging challenges in the maritime industry, streamline cargo clearance processes, and promote seamless trade facilitation.
The engagement, held on Monday, 11 August 2025, at the Apapa Area Command, was chaired by the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, who reaffirmed the Service’s commitment to the full deployment of the Unified Customs Management System (UCMS), codenamed B’Odogwu.
“On B’Odogwu, there is no going back. We have to forge ahead with what we have started. We know there will be issues, which is why, before now, we met with some authorised banks, and that engagement has yielded positive results,” Adeniyi stated.
He emphasised the Service’s readiness to sustain open dialogue with stakeholders, adding, “It’s our intent to always listen to you patiently, so we have brought everyone together today as equal partners in this project.”
While noting that some operational challenges had already been resolved through collaboration, Adeniyi disclosed ongoing efforts to address others. He also raised concerns over recent attempts to compromise the Service’s digital infrastructure.
“Just over the weekend, there were reports of individuals trying to infiltrate our system. There were several attempts, and the whole idea was to render our system inefficient. Such nefarious acts constitute economic sabotage, which we will not spare. On our part, we will continue to strengthen our system firewalls to prevent future downtimes,” he said.
The meeting concluded with an interactive session where participants shared perspectives and concerns, pledging joint commitment to transparency and efficiency in the nation’s maritime operations.
