The Nigeria Customs Service and the Customs Administration of the Netherlands have deepened their partnership on trade cooperation.

As part of this effort, the organisations signed a joint declaration to strengthen collaboration and reinforce ongoing initiatives to enhance trade facilitation, border security, capacity building, and the fight against transnational organised crime.

The NCS spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the move aimed to facilitate legitimate trade and combat illegal cross-border activities.

Mr Maiwada said the declaration was signed on Wednesday in Brussels by the NCS’s comptroller-general, Bashir Adeniyi, and the director-general of the Netherlands Customs, Nanette Van Schelven, following a series of high-level engagements between the administrations.

He said the engagements aimed to strengthen customs modernisation, intelligence sharing, compliance management, and enforcement cooperation.

He said the development was a build-up on the service’s bilateral working visit to the Netherlands in October 2025 and the subsequent visit of the Netherlands Customs delegation to Nigeria in March 2026.

According to him, the declaration commits both parties to deepening collaboration through the exchange of expertise, training, knowledge sharing and the development of structured cooperation frameworks.

He said the declaration further provides a foundation for developing a joint work plan and future cooperation mechanisms to enhance border efficiency and promote fair trade practices.

He said the declaration would strengthen supply chain security and address the challenges associated with both legal and illegal cross-border movement of goods.

He said that during the initial engagements, the two administrations explored opportunities for cooperation in risk management, cargo clearance systems, trade facilitation, border control, supply chain security, capacity development, and the fight against illicit trade.

According to him, in the Joint Declaration, both parties acknowledged Nigeria’s strategic position as one of West Africa’s leading economies and an important trading partner of the Netherlands.

According to him, they further recognised that customs cooperation and institutional capacity-building are critical to facilitating legitimate trade while combating illegal cross-border activities.

“The declaration highlighted growing concerns over trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, counterfeit goods, wildlife products and weapons, noting these threats require coordinated international responses,” he said.

He said Mr Adeniyi, while signing the declaration, asserted that the Netherlands Customs have demonstrated the value of international cooperation in addressing emerging trade and border management challenges.

The customs boss expressed confidence that the partnership would strengthen intelligence sharing, enhance capacity building, improve enforcement effectiveness and support the collective efforts to secure international supply chains while facilitating legitimate trade.

Mr Adeniyi described the declaration as a milestone in the service’s international cooperation agenda and a reflection of the strong relationship established between the two Customs administrations over the past years.

Ms Schelven said that both administrations face similar challenges in an increasingly interconnected global trading environment.

She noted that closer collaboration would promote mutual learning, strengthen operational capabilities, improve efforts to tackle transnational organised crime, and support efficient and transparent trade processes.

(NAN)