In Historic Milestone, AfCFTA Adopts Nigeria’s PPP Model for $3.1bn Customs Modernisation Drive – THISDAYLIVE

•  Ewalefoh says properly structured PPPs can drive investment, boost revenue, support $1 trillion economy target

James Emejo and Deborah Adekoya in Abuja

Director-General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, yesterday, disclosed that the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for customs modernisation was currently being adopted as template for a $3.1 billion continental customs project under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Ewalefoh said the development represented a significant validation of Nigeria’s PPP framework, particularly the Customs Modernisation Project, which had produced an indigenous digital solution for Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and was now being replicated across the continent.

He made the revelation while reacting to the recent signing of a 20-year concession agreement by the AfCFTA secretariat with Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Limited, the parent company of Trade Modernisation Project Limited (TMP).

The agreement is expected to deploy the AfCFTA Customs Modernisation Project across about 50 member countries, supporting trade within the continental market of about 1.3 billion people.

Ewalefoh said the critical development in the deal was not merely the deployment of customs technology across Africa, but the decision by the AfCFTA secretariat to replicate a PPP model that was developed, structured, and regulated in Nigeria.

He said the Nigerian experience demonstrated that a properly structured PPP could mobilise private capital and expertise to deliver strategic public infrastructure while strengthening government revenue and operational efficiency.

He said, “Africa is not just adopting a piece of technology. Africa is adopting a Nigerian idea, built by Nigerians, proven on Nigerian soil, and now trusted to carry the trade ambitions of an entire continent.”

The ICRC boss stated that Nigerian Customs Modernisation Project, also referred to as the e-Customs Project, was itself developed as a PPP, with the commission playing a central role in facilitating, structuring, and regulating the arrangement.

The project is operated by TMP, a special purpose vehicle established for the partnership with government, while Bergmans serves as its parent company.

Essentially, the AfCFTA arrangement represents the replication of the underlying PPP model rather than merely the adoption of the B’Odogwu digital platform deployed in Nigeria.

B’Odogwu is the digital platform developed under the Customs Modernisation Project and deployed for customs operations.

Ewalefoh said the roots of the Nigerian project could be traced to its formative years when he served as ICRC’s desk officer on the initiative, long before his appointment as Director-General of the commission.

He recalled that the project initially faced considerable doubts and resistance, particularly over whether the private sector partner had the capacity to deliver the proposed transformation.

He said, “When this project came on board, there were a lot of doubts. We asked ourselves: will this work, can we trust the capacity of the proponent? But today, what we are seeing is amazing.”

He said the success of the project demonstrated that institutional resistance to change, rather than funding or lack of ideas, remained one of the major impediments to implementing transformative infrastructure projects.

He said resistance, not ideas or funding, was the biggest challenge to change.

Ewalefoh commended NCS for opening up its operations to private-sector expertise and capital, saying the synergy between the government agency and TMP has contributed significantly to the progress recorded under the project.

He commended the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, for his sustained support for the rollout of B’Odogwu across Customs commands, describing the digital transformation as a major factor behind the confidence the Nigerian model has now earned at the continental level.

The ICRC director-general said the country’s decision to promote an indigenous solution rather than rely exclusively on a foreign technology provider should be seen as an important milestone for the country’s technological and economic aspirations.

He said, “It should be our pride that Nigeria can sell something to the rest of Africa. We are not selling a solution built by a foreign company; we are selling an indigenous Nigerian company to the world.

“Africa is not just adopting a piece of technology. Africa is adopting a Nigerian idea, built by Nigerians, proven on Nigerian soil, and now trusted to carry the trade ambitions of an entire continent. This is what PPPs, properly structured and properly regulated, can deliver.

“There was commitment at the highest level. Everybody was there, the project was structured. This is the first project in the history of this country that was executed as a presidential initiative, through a PPP.”

Ewalefoh added, “When this project came on board, there were a lot of doubts. We asked ourselves: will this work, can we trust the capacity of the proponent? But today, what we are seeing is amazing,” he said, adding that it also had to overcome resistance before it could take root.

“There is proper synergy between the grantor and the concessionaire. The result we are seeing today speaks for itself,” he said, adding that the greatest obstacle to reform of this kind is not funding but institutional resistance to change.

“The biggest challenge is not ideas; the biggest challenge is not funding — the biggest challenge is resistance to change. For Nigerian Customs to open up, modernise, and leverage private-sector expertise and capital deserves recognition.”

Ewalefoh stated, “Nigeria is no longer only a market but a supplier of solutions to Africa — the kind of enterprise the $1 trillion agenda is built on.”

The development came weeks after Ewalefoh, at the ECOWAS Infrastructure Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, called for closer regional cooperation on PPPs. He advocated a regional network of national PPP institutions across West Africa to deepen technical capacity, facilitate knowledge sharing, and harmonise standards for project appraisal and implementation, which he said would improve the credibility of PPP transactions across borders.

Ewalefoh said, “What we are seeing with AfCFTA today is the regional cooperation I called for in Abidjan taking concrete shape. One country’s well-regulated PPP can become the infrastructure backbone of an entire continent.”