Afreximbank has called on Nigeria to take the lead in implementing a regional transit guarantee system under the new ECOWAS transit regulation, arguing that the move is critical to reducing trade costs and eliminating inefficiencies across West Africa.
Speaking at the inaugural Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (Customs PACT) in Abuja, Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank, said the current interstate transit regime remains costly because it relies heavily on customs escorts rather than a unified regional guarantee.
Awani said Afreximbank is ready to work with Nigeria, ECOWAS and the ECOWAS Bank of Investment and Development to establish a functional regional guarantee scheme that strengthens the capacity of national insurers and chambers of commerce. She noted that the Bank is rolling out a US$1-billion continent-wide transit guarantee facility designed to secure customs duties and reduce the risk of goods entering markets illegally.
Under the Afreximbank African Collaborative Transit Guarantee Scheme, traders use a single bond to cover transit across multiple borders, removing the need for multiple guarantees. Awani said this model, already in use in COMESA and the East African Community through a US$300-million arrangement with ZEP-RE, could save Africa at least US$300 million annually once fully implemented.
She added that Afreximbank is open to supporting Nigeria and other countries to develop one-stop border posts, citing the Beitbridge upgrade between South Africa and Zimbabwe, where processing time dropped from several days to a few hours after modernisation supported by the Bank and its partners.
Awani warned that unresolved customs and trade facilitation challenges could undermine the African Continental Free Trade Area, noting that 75 percent of delays in goods movement stem from soft-infrastructure issues such as non-harmonised systems and poor interoperability between national customs platforms.
Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, endorsed the Customs PACT in a message to participants, saying the initiative aligns with the government’s goal of enhancing regional integration and boosting Africa’s position in global trade.
The Customs PACT roundtable, organised by the Nigeria Customs Service in partnership with Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat, aims to strengthen cooperation between customs and the private sector to accelerate intra-African trade.
