The Nigeria Customs Service and the Benin Republic Customs Administration have officially launched SIGMAT connectivity between both countries, a move aimed at digitalising and harmonising cross-border trade.
Announcing the launch on Monday at the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post, the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, described the initiative as a significant step toward trade integration and economic transformation across West Africa.
SIGMAT, which stands for Système Interconnecté de Gestion des Marchandises en Transit, is an Economic Community of West African States project designed to ease regional trade by creating a unified digital system for tracking goods in transit.
“This marks a major milestone in our collective pursuit of seamless trade integration and regional economic transformation across West Africa,” Adeniyi said.
He praised the Director General of the Benin Republic Customs Administration for fostering cooperation to tackle persistent cross-border challenges.
Providing background, the Customs boss said the SIGMAT concept was developed over a decade ago and the electronic platform is designed to digitalise and harmonise customs transit operations across multiple states.
“The concept was conceived over a decade ago, and the electronic platform was designed to achieve several objectives,” Adeniyi explained.
He noted that the new system enhances the visibility of goods in transit and targets key concerns such as smuggling and diversion.
“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,” he said.
Adeniyi revealed that SIGMAT is already operational in countries including Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Ghana, and Togo, with support from the ECOWAS Commission and the German Development Corporation (GIZ).
He said the platform aligns with broader efforts to modernise customs operations and establish a digital trade corridor across West Africa.
Despite some initial challenges, Adeniyi stressed the importance of stakeholder education and collaboration for successful implementation.
“But the most important one is that we will have to do more robust training and sensitisation 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,” he noted.
He added that the Nigeria Customs Service plans to expand SIGMAT deployment to more border locations and deepen bilateral technical cooperation with the Benin Republic.
“We would be 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 centralisation of stakeholders,” Adeniyi stated.
He also highlighted the need for continued engagement with the ECOWAS SIGMAT Steering Committee to exchange insights and assist other member states in adopting the system.
“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 Director General of the Benin Republic Customs Administration, Adidjatou Zanouvi, affirmed the importance of SIGMAT in improving trade and cracking down on customs fraud.
“We are here today for the technical launch of the SIGMAT platform, which is a very important milestone for the cooperation and the interoperability between Benin and Nigerian Customs. It will facilitate the movement of goods and also will help our customs services to fight against any fraud,” Zanouvi said.