By Ajibola Adedoye
The Nigeria Customs Service on Monday launched “Interconnected System for the Management of Goods in Transit” (SIGMAT), a flagship initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), aimed at digitalizing and harmonizing customs transit operations across member states.
Making this announcement this morning at the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post, Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, noted that the launch marks a major milestone in both countries’ collective pursuit of seamless trade integration and regional economic transformation across West Africa amongst others.
According to him, “SIGMAT which was conceived over a decade ago was designed to improve visibility of goods in transit, combat diversion and fraud along corridors, enhance inter-agency coordination, simplify border procedures and reduce delays as well as facilitate trade while securing state revenue”.
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“Implementation began progressively with pilot deployments in countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Ghana, and Togo, with the support of the ECOWAS Commission and German Development Cooperation (GIZ)” he stressed.
Adeniyi who noted that NCS has completed all technical, operational, and policy prerequisites for SIGMAT deployment stresses Nigeria Customs readiness to develop a dedicated SIGMAT application, built by Customs in-house technical team, integration of SIGMAT with the newly introduced Unified Customs Management System (otherwise called B’Odogwu Application) Establishment of connectivity with Benin, and deployment of the application at the Seme Area Command as the pilot corridor.
Other steps to be taken by Nigeria Customs as part of its readiness as highlighted by the Comptroller-General includes “Technical testing and validation of message exchange protocols between Nigeria and the Benin Republic, successful connectivity to the ECOWAS eHub, hosted in Lomé, Togo, which acts as the regional node for all SIGMAT communications.
As parts of its achievements, Adeniyi stated that the development of a standalone SIGMAT application tailored for Nigeria’s customs landscape, successful testing of real-time transit message exchange between Nigeria and Benin as well as mapping and harmonization of entry/exit itineraries at the Seme-Krake border.
Other achievements include the establishment of direct connectivity to the ECOWAS eHub, ensuring regional interoperability as well as strengthened of collaboration with the Benin Customs Administration through multiple bilateral technical meetings.
These milestones not only reflect Nigeria’s technical capacity but also our unwavering commitment to regional integration” he maintained.
The Customs CG who noted that there are certain challenges that delayed the full roll out of the launch of SIGMAT however suggested some way forward as part of strategies that must be adopted for a positive result to be achieved.
According to him, both Nigeria Customs Service and the Benin Customs Administration should expand SIGMAT deployment to additional border locations such Idiroko, Chikanda, and Katsina with support from ECOWAS and national partners.
“They should strengthen bilateral communication mechanisms to ensure timely technical engagement between Nigeria and Benin, collaborate with ECOWAS and GIZ on capacity building programmes for customs officers, private sector actors, and relevant MDAs, establish a joint SIGMAT Monitoring Taskforce to track system uptime, message flow, and procedural compliance as well as continue to engagement with the ECOWAS SIGMAT Steering Committee to share lessons learned and support other member states in their implementation journey”
he stated.
Present at the launch of the programme at the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post include Mr. Wale Edun, Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Finance, Honourable Minister in charge of Economy and Finance, Republic of Benin, Director General, Benin Customs Administration, ECOWAS Commissioner for Customs Union and Taxation, Resident Representative of GIZ, Representatives of the ECOWAS Commission and SIGMAT Coordination Unit and other stakeholders.
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