PEBEC Ranks Nigeria Customs Service Top Performer in Trade Facilitation

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has been named one of Nigeria’s top-performing government agencies in trade facilitation, according to the 2025 Business Facilitation Act (BFA) Compliance Assessment released by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

PEBEC Director-General, Mrs Zahrah Audu, said the NCS met all prescribed compliance standards and showed marked improvement in the speed and responsiveness of its trade-related services, ranking it among the highest-performing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) evaluated.

“The Nigeria Customs Service stood out by meeting all the required standards while recording notable improvements in the timeliness and efficiency of its response to trade-related matters,” Mrs Audu said, adding that the performance reflects a more transparent and business-friendly trading environment.

She credited the outcome to NCS’s sustained focus on operational efficiency and stakeholder experience, calling it consistent with the federal government’s Ease of Doing Business agenda, also disclosing that 98 per cent of the 69 MDAs assessed under the Business Facilitation Act are now meeting expected service delivery standards, a figure she cited as evidence that reforms under the Act are improving government service delivery nationwide.

The recognition follows several reforms NCS has rolled out to modernise customs administration, including the B’Odogwu Unified Customs Management System, the Authorised Economic Operator Programme, and the Advance Ruling System. These initiatives have simplified import and export procedures, cut cargo clearance delays, and improved transparency in customs operations.