Nigeria Customs Bets on Digital Paperwork. Can MIS Fix the Bureaucracy That Kills Trade?
_From Files to Dashboards: Why Internal Automation Is the Next Frontier of Trade Facilitation_ By Lod Onyeji LAGOS — The most important bottleneck in Nigerian trade may not be at the port gate. It may be in a file jacket. On 2025, the Nigeria Customs Service launched its Management Information System File Tracker at the PTML Area Command in Lagos. The tool sounds modest: a single-sign-on platform to track leave applications, duty rosters, internal memos, nominal rolls, and file movements. But in customs administration, that is precisely the point. Countries that cut cargo clearance times in half did not start with drones or scanners. They started by digitizing the bureaucracy itself. “This represents another milestone in the Service’s expanding modernisation agenda,” said *DCG Oluyomi Adebakin*, Deputy Comptroller General in charge of ICT/Modernisation, who represented *CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR* at the rollout. “It is focused on deploying digital solutions...
