Stakeholders urge policy consistency, port efficiency to maximize Nigeria’s WCO Chairmanship

Maritime industry stakeholders have called for policy consistency and a sustained effort to address bureaucratic bottlenecks and port inefficiencies to ensure Nigeria maximizes the benefits of its recent assumption of the Chairmanship of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council.

The stakeholders who spoke at a seminar organised by the League of Maritime Editors in  Lagos on Tuesday, hailed the reform agenda of the Comptroller General of Customs and WCO Chairman, Adewale Adeniyi, but stressed that the global position demands domestic discipline to truly influence African and global trade.

Adeniyi assumed the WCO Council Chairmanship on June 28, 2025, placing him at the helm of an organization representing over 186 customs administrations and 98% of global trade.

Speaking on the theme of the event, Nigeria’s Chairmanship of WCO Council: The Impact on Nation’s Economy, Secretary, Customs Consultative Committee, Eugene Nweke identified policy inconsistency, high handedness and corruption as some of the threats to the WCO chairmanship’s potential success.

Represented by the Director General, Sea Empowerment Research Centre, Francis Aniezechukwu, Nweke urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to ensure trade-facilitating policies remain consistent, stressing that this stability is essential to drive investment.

“The greatest challenge of all is policy inconsistency—frequent reversals harm trust. Bureaucratic bottlenecks—highhandedness, corruption, still lurk. These are the areas the WCO Chairmanship should not only look to but walk the work.

“Infrastructure deficits — ports, roads, ICT, are core concerns.

“In the first quarter of 2025, Customs generated N1.3 trillion in revenue. Yet, port congestion and inefficiencies
still cost Nigeria an estimated $4 billion every year. That is the challenge before us. And that is where reforms must start.

“The Chairmanship is not 100% perfection. It inherent benefits may erode us, if we don’t discipline ourselves at home. While the officers and men of the service are in the eyes of the world, government has a duty to respect and support the Chairman with deserving attentions, ” he said.

Nweke acknowledged that Adeniyi’s milestone reforms including the Time Release Study ( TRS), data analytics, advance ruling application, Authorized Economic Operator (AEO), B’ Odogwu platform and the acquisition of scanners are the foundation and springboard for the WCO role.

To seize the moment, he said Nigeria must institutionalize data sharing across regulatory agencies, scale the AEO program, complete the B’Odogwu migration, and sustain investments in scanning technology to ensure the chairmanship becomes a genuine lever for transformation and establishes the country vas a continental beacon of trade and industrialization.

“Our chairmanship of the WCO is not a medal to display It is a lever for transformation. If we consolidate reforms, harness AfCFTA, and protect transparency, enthrone predictability through data and compliance in our transactions, redefine and sustain fiscal policies, I bet you, Nigeria will not only lead Africa in customs administration and operations, but; she will stand as a continental beacon of trade and industrialisation, ” he said.

On his part, Senior Lecturer at the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Dr. Charles Okorefe, while lauding customs reforms under Adeniyi advocated that all customs processes be included in school curriculum to sustain the NCS technological advancements.

“Most of these things that we
are talking about here including the reforms in Customs are not reflected in academic curriculums. Yes, we have shipping and logistics but studies on customs processes are not reflected in the curriculum.

“Customs can liaise, possibly, with the Ministry of Education and see how these things can be inculcated into school curriculums. We can also train customs brokers.

“Given the fact that the customs as it were at the moment is doing a lot of things, so we must project a good example to the continent, ” he said.

Okerefe also called for more transparent declarations among importers.

“I know it is a problem that may continue for a long time but it can be minimize. And that is the way we can show leadership on the continent. Adeniyi’s position at the helms of the WCO, is not for Nigeria alone. He is carrying the face of Africa to the world. And if that is the case, we must do what is right at home consistently, ” he said.

Assistant Comptroller General of Customs (Rtd), and Chairman of the occasion, (rtd) Charles Edike, expressed strong confidence in the ability of Adeniyi to leverage his new global role.

Edike stated that Adeniyi’s leadership will translate the successes and reforms in customs already achieved in Nigeria into tangible benefits for the nation and the African continent.

Earlier in her welcome address, President of League, Remi Itie said Adeniyi’s election reflects Nigeria’s growing influence in global customs affairs.

For this reason, she said Nigeria is poised to drive customs reforms conversations across the globe, particularly in areas like AfCFTA implementation, suppressing illicit trade and technology adoption.

“Certainly, all of these should impact positively on our country that is in dire need of more growth and progress .

“As members of the forth estate, we know that hoisting of Nigeria’s flag at WCO headquarters symbolizes Nigeria’s leadership as Chair of the Council but beyond that how does it boost the nation’s growth index and possibly change the narrative concerning Nigeria’s trade and image abroad?

“It is important to interrogate all of these and other related issues in this seminar. We have an obligation to do this in order to set agenda for the government, she said.

The highpoint of the event was the presentation of awards to deserving industry players including the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council Barrister Pius Akutah, and the Controller, Federal Operations unit Zone A, Comptroller Muhammed Shuaibu.

Others were Controller Tin Can Island port command Comptroller Frank Onyeka and Assistant Comptroller- General of Customs Babatunde Olomu among others.