On the previous day, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Benin Republic Customs Administration initiated a seamless digitalized process for cross-border trade facilitation, named SIGMAT Connectivity. This initiative aims to allow both nations to benefit from the $3.4 trillion Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) trade.
The AfCFTA, which was established in 2018 and became operational in January 2021, creates a market comprising 1.3 billion individuals and a total gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.4 trillion
In terms of geographical scope and the number of countries involved, it is also the largest free trade area that has been established.
Six West African nations—Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso—are now part of the SIGMAT Connectivity trade platform. SIGMAT interconnectivity denotes the System for Interconnected Management of Goods in Transit.
This was in response to complaints about the inefficiency and multiplicity of checks at the Nigeria-Benin border posts.
According to Daily Trust, the SIGMAT initiative was implemented in several West Coast countries to tackle the rampant problems of goods diversion and revenue loss in Benin.
Recently, President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Dr Omar Touray, decried the decay at the Nigeria-Benin Republic border post, describing it as unacceptable.
“This is one of the busiest and most strategic border posts in West Africa. And yet, we are faced with expensive facilities – scanners, lighting systems and bridges that are simply not working. That is unacceptable,” he said, during a visit to the Nigeria-Benin Republic Border Post, calling for urgent reforms to safeguard the region’s free movement agenda.
He also flayed the multiplicity of checkpoints along the corridor, saying the situation hampers trade facilitation.
Speaking on Monday during the launch in Seme-Krake Joint Border Post, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, stated that the launch of SIGMAT Connectivity marks a major milestone in Nigeria and Benin Republic’s collective pursuit of seamless trade integration and regional economic transformation across West Africa.
The CGC explained that the successful launch of SIGMA will eliminate the diversion of cargo and loss of revenue accruing to both countries.
This morning in Seme, I am pleased to be here and truly delighted to begin by recognizing the gesture of my colleague, the DG of the Customs Administration of Benin Republic, as we collaborate on our joint efforts to tackle cross-border issues impacting both customs administrations.
“I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone present at the official launch of SIGMAT connectivity between our two nations. Our actions today represent a significant landmark in our joint endeavor to achieve seamless trade integration and regional economic transformation throughout West Africa.
The idea was developed more than ten years ago, and the electronic platform was created to fulfill various goals. Our main goal is to enhance the visibility of goods in transit. Our goal is to fight against diversion and fraud in the Nigeria-Benin corridor. We also aim to utilize the platform to promote coordination and collaboration among agencies, including ourselves and our stakeholders.
“Our aim is to streamline border procedures in order to minimize delays. Above all, we believe that trade promotes revenue and prosperity, so we seek to improve free facilitation between our two nations.”
He explained that the implementation of the initiative has commenced in a number of African states including Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Ghana and Togo with the support and assistance of the ECOWAS Commission and the German Development Corporation GIZ.
“For us in Nigeria, SIGMAT reflects our strategic ambition to align with regional digital customs standards and modernisation of our trade corridor.
“We are happy that we have some achievements that we can highlight, which include the development of the SIGMAT application which is currently standing alone and tailored for Nigerian Customs landscape, the successful testing of real-life transit messages exchanged between us in Nigeria and our colleagues in the Republic of Benin, the marking and harmonization of entry and exit itineraries at this particular border station, the establishment of direct connectivity to the ECOWAS electronic hub, ensuring regional interoperability and the strengthening of collaboration between our customs administrations through the various technical meetings and consultations over the last months
In the process of doing this, we have encountered a number of challenges and I’m hoping that during the presentation of the SIGMAT application, we will be able to address those challenges.
“But the most important one is that we will have to do more robust training and sensitisation of our stakeholders. We will have to put in place a robust stakeholder engagement to ensure that we carry not only those economic operators but also other agencies of government that will be involved in this
As a way forward, Nigeria Customs Service is looking ahead with a lot of optimism and we believe that in the near future, we will be able to expand the deployment of SIGMAT to additional border locations, particularly places like Giro and the new place that we’re planning to develop in Samia.
“We will look forward to strengthening bilateral communication mechanisms to ensure timely technical engagements between our customs administrations.
“Very importantly, we will look forward to collaborating with GIZ and ECOWAS on capacity building programmes and centralisation of stakeholders
As we roll out these pilots, we will certainly aim to set up a task force responsible for overseeing deployments and reporting on our successes and challenges.
“In terms of governance, we will maintain our collaboration with the ECOWAS SIGMAT Steering Committee to exchange lessons learned and assist other members in their implementation journey.
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