The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Benin Republic Customs Administration on Monday flagged off a seamless digitalized cross-border trade facilitation process, tagged SIGMAT Connectivity, to enable both countries tap into the $3.4 trillion Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFFA) trade.
Established in 2018 and operationalized in January 2021, the AfCFTA creates a market of 1.3 billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.4 trillionPDF. It is also the largest free trade area established in terms of geographical area and the number of participating countries.
Daily Trust reports that six West Africa countries, namely Nigeria, Benin Republic Togo, Ghana, Cote d’ Iviore, and Bokina Faso are now on the SIGMA Connectivity trade platform.
Speaking on Monday during the launch in Seme-Kraoke Joint Border Post, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi stated that the launch of SIGMAT Connectivity marks a major milestone in Nigeria and Benin Republic collective pursuit of seamless trade integration and regional economic transformation across West Africa.
The CGC, explained that the successful launch of SIGMA, will eliminate diversion of cargo and loss of revenue accrued to both countries.
“It gives me pleasure to be here in Seme this morning and I am indeed very glad to start by acknowledging the gesture of my colleague, the DG of the Customs Administration of Benin Republic to work together for our collective efforts which we have taken to address cross-border issues affecting the two Customs Administrations.
“I want to welcome you all to the official launch of the SIGMAT connectivity between our two countries. What we are doing today marks a major milestone in our collective pursuit of seamless trade integration and regional economic transformation across West Africa.
“I’m sure you have heard a little bit of the historical context of this project which is aimed at digitalizing and harmonizing Customs transit operations across many states.
“The concept was conceived over a decade ago and the platform, the electronic platform, was designed to achieve a number of objectives. Primarily we want to improve the visibility of goods in transit. We want to combat diversion and fraud along the Nigeria-Benin corridor. We also want to use the platform to foster inter-agency coordination and collaboration between us and our stakeholders.
“We want to simplify the procedures at the borders and by so doing we want to reduce delays and most importantly, because we believe that trade fosters revenue and prosperity, we want to enhance free facilitation between our two different countries.
“Implementation of this has started with deployments in a number of African states, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Ghana and Togo with the support and assistance of the ECOWAS Commission and the German Development Corporation GIZ.
“For us in Nigeria, SIGMAT reflects our strategic ambition to align with regional digital Customs standards and modernization of our trade corridor. While we are happy that we have some achievements that we can highlight, which includes the development of the SIGMAT application which is currently standing alone and tailored for Nigerian Customs landscape, the successful testing of real-life transit message exchanged between us in Nigeria and our colleagues in the Republic of Benin, the marking and the harmonization of entry and exit itineraries at this particular border station, the establishment of direct connectivity to the ECOWAS electronic hub, ensuring regional interoperability and the strengthening of collaboration between our Customs administrations through the various technical meetings and consultations have happened over the last months.
“In the process of doing this, we have encountered a number of challenges and I’m hoping that during the presentation of the SIGMAT application, we will be able to address those challenges.
“But the most important one is that we will have to do more robust training and sensitization of our stakeholders. We will have to put in place a robust stakeholder engagement to ensure that we carry not only those economic operators but also other agencies of government that will be involved in this.
“As a way forward, Nigeria Customs Service is looking ahead with a lot of optimism and we believe that in the near future, we will be able to expand the deployments of SIGMAT to additional border locations, particularly places like Giro and the new place that we’re planning to develop in Samia.
“We will look forward to strengthening bilateral communication mechanisms to ensure timely technical engagements between our Customs administrations.
“Very importantly, we will look forward to collaborating with GIZ and ECOWAS on capacity building programs and centralization of stakeholders.
“Of cause, as we deploy these pilots, we will look forward to establishing a task force that will be charged with the responsibility of monitoring deployments, reporting successes and challenges that we have.
“For the purpose of governance, we will continue to engage with the ECOWAS SIGMAT Steering Committee to share lessons learned and support other members in their implementation journey.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our launch today is more than just a technical achievement. It is a powerful demonstration of regional solidarity and institutional leadership. I urge us all to harness the momentum of this milestone to transform our trade corridors into engines of prosperity, security and opportunity for the people of West Africa” he said
Also speaking, the DG of the Benin Republic Customs Administration, Adidjatou Hassan Zanouvi explained that SIGMAT will facilitate the movement of goods and also help fight against fraud frustrating seamless trans-border trade.
“We are here today for the technical launch og the SIGMAT platform which is a very important milestone for the cooperation and the interoperability between Benin and Nigerian customs, because it will facilitate the movement of goods and also will help our Customs Services to fight against any fraud.
“It will also help in collecting revenue and also facilitate trade. The system will really solidify and facilitate the movement of goods from Abidjan, which is already in the SIGMAT system, all the way to Benin and then to Nigeria.
“Also, when goods are coming from Nigeria to us via the corridor, SIGMAT will facilitate. So this is why we are here today, and we are really optimistic on what will be, after the launch, how people will use the system, and we are really putting an emphasis on the training, the sensitization of all the stakeholders,” the Benin Republic Customs Administration DG stated.
STAKEHOLDERS EXPRESS RESERVATION
A former Chairman of the Association of Nigeria Customs License Agent (ANCLCA), Alhaji Azeez Bamidele, has expressed his reservation on the operationalization of SIGMAT interconnectivity.
He explained, that though the process will help streamline the process of documentation of consignments, exiting or entering Nigeria, but thought if there won’t be network glitches.
According to him, SIGMAT interconnectivity refers to the System for Interconnected Management of Goods in Transit
He stated it is a digital platform introduced by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to track cargo movement electronically across member states and that what was witnessed at Seme-Krake border is Nigeria and Benin Republic having to implement this system to facilitate trade and ensure seamless transactions between the two countries ¹.
“It is a welcome development as it will enable customs from both countries performing single documentation of consignments.
“What is cleared in Nigeria will be automatically transmitted to the Benin Republic Customs Administration portal. In a nutshell, it will be a single window system.
“I doubt if we are using 4G or 5G network, if not what happened about two years ago when this same single window documentation between Nigeria and Benin Republic was first introduced.
“There was no network to perform the operation when it was being tested then. I is going to contribute to the ease of doing business at the border if this identified challenges had been addressed” he added.
While giving some of the key features of SIGMA, other Freight Forwarder from Benin Republic who was on ground to witness the launch of SIGMA, Dansis Dansu, explained that it allows for real-time tracking of goods in transit, reducing the risk of smuggling and enhancing border security, adding that both countries will use a single platform for trade transactions, streamlining processes and minimizing paperwork.
“Declarations made for imports transiting from either country will be electronically shared, promoting transparency and efficiency and also enables effective risk management, reducing the likelihood of corruption and revenue loss” he said.
Dansu who also outlined some of the benefits of SIGMA Interconnectivity states that it will promote transparency in trade transactions, while also reducing the risk of corruption and smuggling.
– *Improved Security*: The system enhances border security by tracking goods in real-time and reducing the risk of trans-border crimes.
