AfCFTA signs $3.1 billion deal to modernize customs across Africa

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has signed a 20-year, $3.1 billion concession agreement to modernize customs systems across Africa, in a move aimed at reducing border delays, improving trade facilitation and accelerating intra-African commerce.

The agreement, signed with Nigerian company Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Ltd., will support the rollout of a continent-wide customs modernization system covering about 50 participating African countries.

The project is designed to provide the digital and physical infrastructure needed to harmonize customs procedures, improve the exchange of information between national administrations and make the movement of goods across borders more efficient.

Under the 20-year concession, Bergmans will finance and deploy the infrastructure required for the project. The system is expected to include digital customs platforms, integrated data centres, multilingual customs portals and technology for non-intrusive cargo inspections.

The initiative comes as African governments seek to reduce the operational barriers that continue to slow trade despite efforts to lower tariffs under the AfCFTA agreement.

AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said the project would provide the technological backbone needed to implement the bloc’s protocols on customs harmonization and trade facilitation. The initiative is also intended to improve customs efficiency and strengthen government revenue collection without creating additional financial obligations for participating member states.

About 50 African countries have already joined the initiative, according to the AfCFTA Secretariat.

The project is expected to support the development of a single continental market serving around 1.3 billion people, while helping businesses move goods more quickly and predictably between African countries.

The agreement also draws on Nigeria’s experience with customs digitalization. Bergmans’ Trade Modernisation Project has developed B’Odogwu, a unified customs management system being deployed by the Nigeria Customs Service.

Nigeria’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission said the Nigerian model had been selected as a template for the continental project after demonstrating the potential of technology-driven customs reform.

For African businesses, customs modernization could help address some of the practical obstacles that continue to limit intra-African trade, including lengthy clearance procedures, fragmented documentation requirements and weak connectivity between national customs systems.

The initiative is part of a broader effort to build the infrastructure needed for the AfCFTA to function as an integrated continental market.

Digital customs systems are expected to complement other efforts to facilitate cross-border commerce, including the development of interoperable payment systems and digital trade infrastructure.

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, or PAPSS, is another component of this broader integration effort, allowing participating businesses and financial institutions to make cross-border payments in African currencies.

Together, these initiatives are intended to address not only tariff barriers but also the administrative, technological and financial obstacles that can make intra-African trade costly and slow.

The $3.1 billion customs modernization project therefore represents a significant investment in the operational infrastructure of the AfCFTA, with the aim of making it easier for goods to move across borders and for African companies to access markets beyond their home countries.