Can Better Messaging Fix Nigerian Trade? Why Customs Is Betting on Communication as Policy

_From Press Office to Policy Tool: How Strategic PR Is Becoming a Trade Facilitation Instrument_ 

By Lod Onyeji

PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA — On this special occasion, Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) gathered not to inspect containers or man borders, but to discuss narrative.

At a 2-day conference in Port Harcourt, the NCS unveiled what may be its most consequential reform in years: a plan to treat communication not as PR, but as core operations.

The premise is simple and data-backed: countries that professionalize how they talk to traders, get more trade, more compliance, and more trust.

The Shift from enforcement to engagement has been absent in most establishment of public and private sectors for so long until now that the Nigeria Customs Service has found this string that turned up any meaningful conversation and relationship. For decades, Customs agencies worldwide were measured by seizures and revenue. Nigeria is now pivoting effective communication for better trade facilitation.

“We need to humanise reforms and showcase success stories to demonstrate their impact on the everyday citizen, while aligning operational achievement with strategic communication,” said DC Abdullahi Maiwada, the Service’s National Public Relations Officer and lead presenter.

The argument from the conference was blunt: reforms fail in silence. The Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Programme, Nigeria’s flagship trade-facilitation initiative, was cited repeatedly. CSC Titus Omajali noted that “The success of the AEO programme largely depends on effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders across the international supply chain.”

In other words: policy without messaging is policy without uptake.

That it is  evident that where strategic Communication has moved the needle is not theory. Three case studies show what happens when Customs invests in communication as infrastructure:

1.  Singapore Customs: The “TradeFIRST” + Stakeholder engagement model since 2006, Singapore Customs has paired its AEO program with quarterly industry dialogues, clear online guides, and proactive outreach. Result: AEO adoption rose to cover over 70% of Singapore’s total trade value by 2023. Average cargo clearance time fell to 10 minutes for sea and air cargo. World Bank LPI score for “Customs” rose from 3.90 in 2010 to 4.10 in 2023.

2.  Kenya Revenue Authority: The Time Release Study + Public Reporting Model. After KRA began publishing annual Time Release Studies and running media campaigns on reforms in 2014, voluntary compliance increased. Cargo dwell time at Mombasa Port dropped from 11.9 days in 2016 to 3.6 days in 2023, according to KPA data. Public trust in KRA, per Afrobarometer, rose 14 points between 2016-2022.

3.  U.S. CBP: The “Center of Excellence” + Industry Partnership Model 
    U.S. Customs and Border Protection embedded communication officers in trade policy teams. Paired with the C-TPAT AEO program, this helped grow C-TPAT membership to over 11,800 certified companies by 2024, covering an estimated 54% of U.S. import value. CBP credits the model with a 40% reduction in cargo exams for trusted traders.

The common denominator: trust as an operational input. As Lawrence Dike of the University of Port Harcourt told the conference, “Trust is the currency of business and relationships. Trust is your reputation and reputation is your legacy.”

What Nigeria Is Proposing
The Port Harcourt blueprint has 5 pillars, articulated across technical sessions and a panel featuring CSCs Abdullahi Husseini, Oscar Ivara, Emmanuel Tangwa, SCs Magaji Dikko and Juliana Tomo:

1.  Integrate Communication into Operations: Move PR from afterthought to planning table. Jossy Nkwocha of Reputation Masters urged adoption of corporate communication and innovation as growth tools.
2.  Stakeholder-Centred Engagement: Regular feedback loops with freight forwarders, manufacturers, and AEO applicants.
3.  Humanize Reforms: Translate policy into citizen impact stories — jobs saved, time reduced, costs lowered.
4.  Consistency and Clarity: As Bamidele Chinedu of the Trade Modernisation Project advised, PR officers must be “trusted sources of information” through clear, consistent messaging.
5.  AEO Advocacy: Use targeted communication to drive uptake of the AEO program, which globally has been shown to cut border compliance time by 30-50% for certified firms, per WCO data.

The goal, per NCS leadership, is to reinforce reforms under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and the broader Trade Modernisation Project.

Communication can amplify reform. It cannot substitute for it.

The risk for NCS is “reputation-washing” — communicating efficiency while port processes remain slow. Data from the World Bank’s 2023 LPI ranks Nigeria 88th globally on “Customs” performance, behind Ghana at 78th and Morocco at 57th.

For the blueprint to work, three metrics must be tracked publicly:
1.  Adoption Rate: % of trade value covered by AEO-certified companies. Benchmark: Singapore 70%, EU average 20%.
2.  Time/Cost: Publish quarterly Time Release Studies, as Kenya does. Target: reduce average clearance from current 7-10 days.
3.  Trust Index: Annual perception survey of traders on fairness, predictability, and information access.

Without published data, strategic communication risks becoming strategic spin.

What NCS is attempting reflects a global trend: the modernization of border agencies from revenue collectors to trade facilitators. The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement explicitly lists “information availability” and “consultation” as binding obligations because they reduce friction.

Nigeria, with $50B+ in annual trade, has the most to gain. Every day shaved off clearance time is estimated by the African Development Bank to add 1% to trade volume.

The Port Harcourt conference ended with a commitment, not a policy. The test will be whether the NCS PR Directorate gains budget, authority, and access to operational data — the same way Singapore and the U.S. did.

If it does, this may be remembered as the moment Nigerian Customs stopped just policing trade, and started partnering to grow it.