Nigeria, Cameroon begin joint assessment of Ekok-Mfum border post

By Onu Okorie

Nigeria, Cameroon Begin Joint Assessment of Ekok-Mfum Border Post
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Cameroon Customs Administration have commenced a joint assessment of the Ekok-Mfum One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) as part of efforts to remove barriers to cross-border trade, strengthen border security and promote regional economic integration.
The high-level exercise, held on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, was themed, “Leveraging the Nigeria Customs Service Trade Modernisation Project to Advance Seamless Cross-Border Trade and Shared Prosperity.”
The assessment brought together customs chiefs and technical experts from both countries, as well as representatives of security agencies, development partners and local communities.
Speaking at the event, Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said the initiative was built on the longstanding cooperation between the two customs administrations.
Adeniyi, however, noted that despite the geographical proximity between Nigeria and Cameroon, the movement of people and goods across the border remained unnecessarily difficult.
“We are not building from nothing. We are taking something that works between the two of us and asking whether it can be made to work for the region and hopefully for our continent,” he said.
The Customs CGC acknowledged the contributions of the African Development Bank, ECOWAS, ECCAS, Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat to efforts aimed at improving border management and facilitating trade.
He disclosed that Nigerian and Cameroonian customs officials had recently undertaken a study tour of the Beitbridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe to examine international best practices in integrated border management.
According to him, technical teams from both countries are currently working to conclude a joint operational agreement, which is expected to be signed at the forthcoming C-PACT conference.
Also speaking, the Director-General of Cameroon Customs, Fongod Nuvaga, described the assessment as the first concrete step towards achieving unified operations at the border.
Nuvaga called for greater emphasis on real-time data sharing and joint risk-management systems, arguing that cargo and travellers should be processed once instead of being subjected to repeated and duplicate checks by agencies on both sides of the border.
The exercise culminated in the launch of the Mfum-Ekok Border Modernisation Initiative, which is designed to transform operations at the border through technology and improved infrastructure.
The initiative, driven by trade technology experts, will focus on digitising customs procedures, optimising physical infrastructure and creating new economic opportunities for border communities and traders.
The initiative is also expected to support the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by making movement of goods and people across the Nigeria-Cameroon border faster, more predictable and less costly.
The two countries are expected to build on the assessment by deepening operational cooperation, integrating border processes and deploying modern technologies to create a more efficient and secure trading corridor.