By Onu Okorie

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has commissioned a dedicated facility for women engaged in cross-border trade along the Seme-Krake corridor, in a move aimed at removing barriers to formal trade and making movement across the Nigeria-Benin border safer and more efficient.
The facility was commissioned on Friday, September 11, 2026, during a joint assessment visit to the Seme-Krake Border Post by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi. Speaking at a press briefing during the visit, Adeniyi said women account for more than 70 per cent of informal cross-border traders across Africa, but many are discouraged from using formal channels because of harassment, extortion, delays and complicated border procedures.
He said the challenges were particularly damaging to small-scale traders, who often lacked the financial capacity to absorb additional costs arising from inefficient border processes.
“When border processes become slow, opaque, intimidating or complex, traders with the least capacity to absorb additional costs are the most affected,” Adeniyi said. The Customs boss said the new facility was designed to respond directly to the challenges confronting women traders by providing simplified procedures for small consignments, clear trade information in languages they understand and accessible points of contact at the border.
He added that the facility would also provide protection against informal demands and create a channel for women traders to report cases of poor treatment, harassment or other abuses and seek redress. Adeniyi said the initiative formed part of efforts to make the Seme-Krake corridor more conducive to legitimate commerce and deepen economic integration between Nigeria and Benin. He stressed that the effectiveness of regional economic integration should not be judged by the number of agreements signed or ceremonial engagements between governments, but by how efficiently people and goods move across borders.
According to him, the ultimate test of cooperation between Nigeria and Benin is whether legitimate traders can conduct business with fewer delays, lower costs and greater confidence. Also speaking, the Director-General of Benin Customs, Raouf Aboudou, commended the NCS for establishing the facility, describing stronger cooperation between the two Customs administrations as critical to integrating trade within the sub-region.
Aboudou said closer collaboration would facilitate legitimate cross-border trade while simultaneously strengthening controls against smuggling and other illicit activities along the corridor. The initiative is expected to strengthen the formal participation of women in regional commerce while improving transparency, accountability and protection for vulnerable traders operating along one of West Africa’s busiest land trade corridors.