By George Ozalla
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom have advanced negotiations on a Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement (CMAA) designed to strengthen information sharing, compliance and trade facilitation between the two countries.
The negotiations were reviewed during a high-level bilateral meeting held at the NCS headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, from Thursday, September 25 to Friday, September 26, 2026, as both customs administrations worked to resolve outstanding issues ahead of the proposed signing of the agreement in December.
The Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of the Strategic, Research and Policy Department, Nafi’u Isyaku, who represented the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said the physical meeting followed about six months of virtual negotiations between the NCS and HMRC.
He said the decision to hold the discussions in person was to enable both sides to deal with the remaining issues and bring the negotiations to a conclusion.
“The meeting is to finalise our Customs Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement (CMAA). We have been doing it virtually for some six months now. We decided to come here in person so that we can finalise the negotiations before the final signing, which hopefully is coming up in the first week of December during the World Customs Organisation Policy Commission meeting,” Isyaku said.
The proposed agreement is expected to provide a formal basis for cooperation between the two customs administrations, particularly in the sharing of information and efforts to improve compliance and facilitate legitimate trade.
Speaking on the discussions, Senior Policy Adviser at HMRC, Syed Moinuddin, said the meeting gave both administrations the opportunity to work through areas of cooperation and establish a framework that reflects the interests of the NCS and HMRC.
He said the engagement also provided an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the two organisations within the wider customs community.
For Louisa Bentley, Head of Bilateral Relations and Agreements at HMRC, the two-day negotiations had produced progress, with both sides close to finalising the agreement.
Bentley said the proposed CMAA would have implications for trade relations by improving the exchange of information and compliance arrangements between the two customs administrations.
“The agreement would boost trade by improving compliance and information sharing between HMRC and the NCS, while also enhancing compliance and trade facilitation to both partners in global trade opportunities,” she said.
The HMRC delegation also visited a number of facilities at the NCS headquarters, including the Trade Modernisation Project Limited office, the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report office and the Nigeria Customs Broadcasting Network station.
Bentley commended the developments observed during the visit, particularly in technology and personnel training.
“We have seen significant developments in technology and personnel training,” she said, adding that the reforms would support more modern and efficient trade processes.
