LECTURE THEME: NIGERIA’S CHAIRMANSHIP OF WCO COUNCIL: THE IMPACT ON NATION’S ECONOMY
DELIVERED BY FWDR DR EUGENE I NWEKE Rff Fnis Fptm Fffa Ksm AT THE LEAGUE OF MARITIME EDITORS (LOME) ONE DAY
SEMINAR.HOLDING AT THE ROCK VIEW HOTEL APAPA. LAGOS, ON 30 September 2025.
Protocols:
Distinguished Chairman…
ACG Charles Edike (Rtd);
Our Special Guests of Honour…
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR;
The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council;
The Managing Director- of the Nigeria Ports Authority;
Captains of industry,
Distinguished editors and journalists,
Ladies and gentlemen:
🔰 I thank the League of Maritime Editors for this honour.
🔰 Let me begin with the words of Peter Drucker: “Management is doing things right;
Leadership is doing the right things”.
🔰 Today we gather,
Not only to celebrate Nigeria’s new position at the World Customs Organization, but to ask:
How do we turn this leadership into economic value for our people?
♻️ Context Of The Position:
🔰 On 1st July 2025,
Nigeria assumed the Chairmanship of the WCO Council.
🔰 The WCO represents over 180 customs administrations,
covering 98% of global trade.
🔰 To lead such a body is no small matter.
It is not an over statement posting that, it is prestigious, but more importantly, it is power to influence.
To shape customs standards,
And to champion Africa’s trade future.
♻️ Nigeria’s Economic Stakes:
👀 Consider this:
🔰 In the first quarter of 2025, Customs generated ₦1.3 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 bite.
♻️ A Review Of The Milestone Reforms Under CGC Adeniyi:
Before chairmanship position beckoned, came reforms.
Let me highlight six milestones under the CGC’s watch and the essence is to point needs to maximize benefits of this rare position:
1. Time Release Study (TRS)
– Measured real clearance times at ports.
– Identified bottlenecks.
– Offered solutions to reduce dwell time.
2. Data Analytics
– Shifted Customs from intuition to intelligence.
– Risk-based inspections, fewer leakages.
3. Advance Ruling Application
– Traders now get tariff & valuation clarity upfront.
– Cuts disputes, builds confidence.
4. Authorized Economic Operator (AEO)
– Trusted traders rewarded with faster clearance.
– Incentivises compliance, aligns with global best practice.
5. B’Odogwu Platform (migration from NICIS)
– An integrated single-window environment.
– Seamless, digital, transparent.
6. Acquisition of Rapid Scanners
– Faster, non-intrusive inspections.
– Enhances both facilitation and border security.
🔰 Together, these reforms form a foundation.
They are the springboard for our WCO chairmanship.
♻️ AfCFTA Benefits
What does this chairmanship position mean for the African Continental Free Trade Agreements – AfCFTA implementation?
🔰 It will further accelerate the harmonization of customs procedures.
🔰 Mutual recognition of AEOs across Africa.
🔰 Enthrone Data standards that reduce friction.
🔰 Time Release Study models to cut delays.
🔰 Nigerian ports positioned as regional trade hubs.
👍🏾 The actualisation of this amounts to leadership with practical outcomes.
♻️ Challenges We Must Face:
Gentlemen/ladies, we must be candid in stating our possible challenges:
🔰 Infrastructure deficits — ports, roads, ICT, etc a core concerns.
🔰 Policy inconsistency — frequent reversals harm trust.
🔰 Bureaucratic bottlenecks — highandedness, corruption, etc still lurks.
🔰 Business Unusual – Fellow compatriots, this chairmanship is not 100% perfection prone and inherent benefits may erode us, if we don’t discipline ourselves at home. On this note, while the officers and men of the service are in the eyes of the sun, government has a duty to respect and support the chairman with deserving attentions.
♻️ My Charge to the Press:
👀 And now, I turn to our hosts, honorable executives and members the League of Maritime Editors and indeed, the maritime journalists as critical stakeholders in the industry. Gentlemen and ladies:
🔰 You are not mere reporters.
You are professors of the maritime space.
👀 Your role is to:
🔰 Educate — explain reforms to industry stakeholders , especially traders and the public.
🔰 Interrogate — use data to hold leaders accountable.
🔰 Shape narratives — celebrate progress, expose failures. Stop hyping undue praises that makes us a collective ridicule.
🔰 Guide policy — through analysis that enlightens. Explore Machine learning & AI.
👀 May I therefore, charge you to:
Step up your professorial role.
Be the industry teachers, watchdogs, and partners in reform.
Position yourselves squarely as co-drivers of a dignified and prosperous maritime industry, courtesy of your ingenuities.
♻️ Way Forward:
👀 To seize this moment, Nigeria must:
💠 Institutionalise data sharing across Customs, NPA, NSC & other regulatory agencies, thus, propagating and maximizing the benefits of responsible partnership/collaboration.
💠 Scale the AEO programme regionally and sustain enlightenment program in this regards.
💠 Complete the B’Odogwu migration with trader safeguards and squarely tackle all migration glitches before the year runs out.
💠 Sustain scanner investments through PPPs.
💠 Audit and benchmark performance regularly.
♻️ Conclusion:
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, permit to conclude by stating that;
🔰 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 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.
🔰 So I say to all of us;
Let Customs deliver.
Let industry comply.
And let the press profess.
🔰 I thank you for your attention and I wish LOME and all of us a successful workshop.
🔰 May visionary leaders evolve in all strata and facets of our maritime industry, that our potentials be maximized.
🔰 God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Fwdr Eugene I. Nweke Rff Fnis Fptm Fffa Ksm.
@ Secretary, Customs Consultative Committee – CCC.
@ Head of Research – Sea Empowerment and Research Center – SEREC.
@ BOT Sec – ASIMPIN.
@ CEO – Virtues Marine & Freight Services Ltd.
30th September, 2025.
[9/30, 5:39 PM] Oga: Publish this separately
By Eugene Nweke