Seme Customs clears passenger baggage in under five minutes

By Adebola Muili

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Seme Area Command, has recorded an average clearance time of less than five minutes for passenger baggage following the deployment of its Simplified Declaration for Passenger Baggage Import system.

The development was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Customs John Tunde Ayagbalo, on behalf of the Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Abdullahi Kaila.

The Command said the digital initiative was introduced to make baggage declaration and assessment easier for travellers, while reducing delays, limiting manual procedures and improving transparency at the Seme border.

It explained that passengers could start the declaration process from their mobile devices or use designated digital kiosks at the Command to complete their transactions.

According to the statement, the system uses standardised assessment tables for declared personal goods, allowing applicable duties to be calculated automatically and receipts issued after payment.

The Command said the arrangement was intended to provide passengers with a more predictable process for clearing dutiable goods and reduce the level of discretionary assessment associated with manual procedures.

It also disclosed that the new system had generated ₦10,340,260.02 in revenue from passenger baggage declarations within its first few days of operation.

The Command said the revenue represented duties collected through the automated process, which provides a direct channel for remitting applicable payments to the Federation Account.

While highlighting the improvement in passenger facilitation, the Command said the digital system had not replaced its enforcement responsibilities at the border.

It said customs officers were continuing to deploy risk-management and intelligence-led measures to detect attempts to move restricted or prohibited goods, particularly where commercial quantities were presented as passenger baggage.

The Command said the baggage declaration system was part of its wider programme to modernise customs operations, improve the experience of legitimate travellers and strengthen revenue collection through technology.

It added that collaboration with other government agencies and stakeholders operating along the Seme border corridor would be sustained to facilitate legitimate movement while tackling smuggling and other forms of illicit cross-border trade.

Kaila, according to the statement, reaffirmed the commitment of the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, to the use of technology and innovative processes to promote trade facilitation, transparency, accountability and compliance at the nation’s borders.

The Command consequently urged passengers and cross-border traders to use the simplified declaration platform and observe applicable customs regulations.

It assured legitimate travellers and traders of continued facilitation, while stressing that border controls would remain in place to protect national security and the country’s economic interests.