The Regional Trade Facilitation Committee (RTFC) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the weekend, embarked on a facility tour of the Port and Terminal Multiservices Limited, PTML, in Tin-Can Island, Lagos, to understand the impact of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) indigenous online platform, codenamed B’Odogwu, on the nation’s economy.
At the end of the tour, the ECOWAS Trade Facilitation Committee hailed the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, for embracing innovation to initiate the Unified Customs Management System, also known as B’Odogwu.
Speaking during a visit of the RTFC to PTML Command, which served as the pilot area for the B’Odogwu implementation, the Director of Trade at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Kolawole Sofola, praised Adeniyi and the PTML Command for the great achievements in trade facilitation and revenue collection recorded within the period it commenced implementing the project.
The ECOWAS director, who led the team to learn about the activities of the command and get deeper insight into recent NCS activities, added that Nigeria is making gains with the deployment of modern innovations.
Sofola also said the NCS is doing a great job in enabling economic growth through trade facilitation and suppression of smuggling.
He also lauded the Controller of PTML, Comptroller Tenny Mankini Daniyan, for deploying the technology to achieve greater productivity, like increased revenue
“On behalf of the president of the ECOWAS Commission, as well as the commissioner responsible for economic affairs and agriculture, I congratulate Comptroller Daniyan and his management team for the great work that they are doing, not only in generating revenue but also in stopping smuggling activities and promoting trade facilitation.
“We came here to learn as a regional trade facilitation committee, consisting of all ECOWAS member states, and we are very glad to have noted a very good practice in Nigeria. What Nigeria has been doing is evolving with the times. They have moved from one system to improve to another system, to finally move to this current system, which is homegrown.
“This command and, in general, the Nigerian customs service is doing well in promoting economic growth,” he said.
Customs Area Controller of the PTML Command, Comptroller Tenny Daniyan, told the committee that since the inception of the Unified Customs Management System (UCMS) B’Odogwu, in November 2024 to date, the command has collected over N230 billion using the platform as of May 22, 2025.
Comptroller Daniyan revealed to the committee that the B’Odogwu project was initially launched in a pilot phase at PTML Command, and because of the success story, the management of the Nigeria Customs Service rolled out the project in 34 commands across the country.
Also speaking at the meeting, the B’Odogwu Project Manager, Assistant Comptroller Oyindamola Abass Oladepo, while delivering a presentation on the application, gave the history of how the project was initiated. He said N5.6 billion was realised from the platform in just a day.
