The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Area Command, has begun full operation of its Simplified Declaration for Passenger Baggage Import — a digital system meant to speed up baggage clearance at Nigeria’s busiest land border.

Under the new setup, passengers can start their baggage declarations from their phones or use digital kiosks installed at the Command. The system calculates duties automatically using pre-programmed assessment tables and issues receipts once payment is made, removing the manual steps and on-the-spot assessments that used to slow things down.

The results have been quick to show. The Command says the average clearance time for baggage is now under five minutes. In the first few days of operation, it collected N10,340,260.02 in revenue from passenger baggage declarations alone. Customs notes that the automated process creates a direct, transparent and accountable channel for duties paid into the Federation Account.

The Command added that the digital push is running alongside stronger enforcement. Through risk management and intelligence-led controls, officers continue to intercept attempts to pass off commercial quantities of restricted or prohibited goods as personal baggage.

Comptroller Abdullahi Kaila, the Customs Area Controller for Seme, said the initiative fits the reform agenda of Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, which focuses on using technology to drive trade facilitation, transparency, accountability and compliance at the borders.

Kaila said the Command will keep working with stakeholders and sister security agencies along the Seme corridor to keep legitimate passengers and goods moving, while maintaining controls against smuggling and other cross-border illicit trade. He urged passengers, cross-border traders and the wider trading community to use the simplified declaration system and comply with customs requirements, assuring them that legitimate travel and commerce will continue to get maximum facilitation within the framework of national security.