The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Cameroon Customs Administration have commenced a joint assessment of the Ekok-Mfum One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) as part of efforts to eliminate trade barriers, strengthen border security and promote regional economic integration.
The high-level exercise, held on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, was themed “Leveraging the Nigeria Customs Service Trade Modernisation Project to Advance Seamless Cross-Border Trade and Shared Prosperity.”
It brought together customs chiefs, technical experts, security agencies, development partners and community leaders from both countries.
Speaking at the event, Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, said the initiative was aimed at building on the existing cooperation between the two customs administrations to create a more efficient border system.
Adeniyi noted that despite the geographical proximity of Nigeria and Cameroon, movement of goods and people across the border remained unnecessarily challenging.
“We are not building from nothing. We are taking something that works between the two of us and asking whether it can be made to work for the region and hopefully for our continent,” he said.
The NCS boss acknowledged the support of the African Development Bank, ECOWAS, ECCAS, Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat in advancing the initiative.
He also disclosed that officials from both countries had recently undertaken a study tour of the Beitbridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe to benchmark best practices.
According to him, technical teams from both administrations are working to finalise a joint operational agreement, which is expected to be signed at the forthcoming C-PACT conference.
On his part, the Director General of Cameroon Customs, Fongod Nuvaga, described the assessment as the first concrete step towards unified border operations.
Nuvaga urged both sides to prioritise real-time data sharing and joint risk-management systems to ensure that cargo and travellers are processed once, rather than subjected to duplicate checks.
The exercise also witnessed the launch of the Mfum-Ekok Border Modernisation Initiative, which is designed to digitise customs workflows, optimise border infrastructure and create new economic opportunities.
Driven by trade technology experts, the initiative is expected to support the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by facilitating more efficient cross-border trade between Nigeria and Cameroon.
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