Nigeria and India have reaffirmed their commitment to deepen cooperation on customs valuation, transfer pricing, and cross-border trade transparency. This renewed effort was the highlight of a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the 92nd Session of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Policy Commission on June 23, 2025, in Brussels.
The Nigerian delegation, led by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, engaged with India’s team headed by Surjit Bhujbal, a top official with the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). The bilateral talks built on the foundation of the Customs Mutual Administrative Agreement (CMAA) signed between both nations in November 2024 during the Indian Prime Minister’s state visit to Nigeria.
In his remarks, CG Adeniyi highlighted Nigeria’s priority areas under the CMAA, emphasizing the need to curb undervaluation of imports, abusive transfer pricing mechanisms, and poor system integration between tax and customs authorities — all of which hamper national revenue generation and trade efficiency.
“This engagement is pivotal to our customs modernization programme. We are intensifying efforts to tackle undervaluation, abusive transfer pricing, and to improve system integration between customs and tax authorities,” Adeniyi stated.
He added that enhanced intelligence sharing with India had already yielded results in disrupting illicit pharmaceutical imports and could become a model for regional anti-smuggling operations across Africa.
The Comptroller-General also disclosed Nigeria’s interest in expanding technical cooperation, including joint field missions, advanced training programmes for customs officers, and the development of data exchange protocols that would support improved risk profiling and streamlined trade documentation.
“We are looking at joint missions, training programmes, and data exchange to improve risk management and strengthen trade controls,” he said.
Bhujbal, speaking on behalf of the Indian delegation, reaffirmed India’s view of Nigeria as a strategic trade partner in Africa and noted the CMAA had opened a structured pathway for mutual technical assistance, capacity building, and policy harmonization between the two customs systems.
“India’s experience in linking customs operations with taxation systems could be useful to Nigeria’s reforms, and we’re eager to share knowledge,” Bhujbal said.
The WCO Policy Commission is a prestigious platform where customs leaders from over 180 countries deliberate on strategic reforms, trade facilitation frameworks, and enforcement cooperation. Nigeria’s active participation at the 92nd session reflects its growing influence in shaping global customs governance.
With Nigeria currently pursuing broad-based customs reforms that include digitalisation, stakeholder transparency, and enhanced inter-agency coordination, the dialogue with India further positions the country to achieve its 2026 target of full customs modernisation.
The Nigeria Customs Service has also recently embarked on new measures to combat smuggling and revenue leakages, including the deployment of Artificial Intelligence tools for risk detection and electronic valuation systems to reduce human interference.
The renewed cooperation between Nigeria and India is also a critical demonstration of growing South-South partnerships, where emerging economies share institutional knowledge and regulatory tools to bolster trade, fight corruption, and promote regional integration under global agreements such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC).
Experts believe the success of the CMAA could eventually inform broader trade agreements involving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and BRICS-aligned economies.
As Nigeria intensifies its pursuit of customs reform and trade integrity, the strengthened relationship with India represents a practical move toward aligning with global standards and embracing a more digitized, transparent, and accountable customs framework. The bilateral discussion in Brussels could mark a turning point in the fight against illicit trade practices and revenue sabotage, especially in developing countries.