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The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and its Benin Republic counterpart have commenced work on a digital interconnection system to facilitate faster clearance of goods, improve risk management and strengthen coordination at the Sèmè-Kraké Joint Border Post.

The initiative is aimed at establishing real-time exchange of customs declarations, manifests, transit information, risk profiles and enforcement alerts between the two countries.

Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this at the assessment and commissioning of the Joint Border Post at Sèmè-Kraké on the Nigeria-Benin border.

Adeniyi said the proposed interconnection would address the major gap preventing the facility from operating as a truly joint border post.

He said although Nigeria and Benin had shared the facility for years, the two Customs administrations were still operating separate systems.

According to him, the buildings and infrastructure at the border were completed, but what remained was the integration of the systems used by both administrations.

He said, ‘Without interconnectivity, this is not a joint border post. It is two border posts sharing a car park.’

Adeniyi said work was already underway to connect the two Customs administrations through a common data exchange arrangement, building on their experience with regional transit systems.

He explained that the system would enable a declaration lodged on one side of the border to become visible to the other side in real time.

It would also allow transit consignments to be tracked from their point of origin to destination, while risk profiles and enforcement alerts generated by one administration could be transmitted to its counterpart before they became outdated.

The Customs boss said the reform was necessary because Sèmè-Kraké sits on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, which carries about 70 per cent of the sub-region’s transit trade.

He described the crossing as one of the busiest land borders in West Africa, operating round the clock throughout the year.

Adeniyi said delays at the border had consequences beyond the immediate crossing point, as every hour lost affected consignments, travellers and the prices of goods in markets from Cotonou to Lagos.

He said the two Customs administrations had also identified other measures required to make the border more efficient, including the restoration of scanning facilities, improved access control, surveillance and lighting.

He added that there was a need for a standing Nigeria-Benin enforcement and intelligence mechanism for coordinated patrols and rapid response.

The NCS chief also called for harmonised bilingual standard operating procedures covering cargo, passengers, inspection, and transit and incident escalation.

He said joint risk management would enable the Customs administrations to focus resources on high-risk consignments rather than subjecting all cargo to the same level of intervention.

Adeniyi further called for an empowered joint management structure for the shared infrastructure, a preventive maintenance framework and better organisation of the border yard through dedicated lanes, holding areas, signage and a regulated market space.

He said the objective was to transform Sèmè-Kraké into a technology-enabled Joint Border Post based on Customs interconnectivity, joint risk management, coordinated enforcement, secure infrastructure, harmonised procedures and accountable joint governance.

The Comptroller-General said the experience could provide a model for other border crossings within the region.

He noted that the move was in line with commitments made by the governments of Nigeria and Benin to deepen bilateral trade and integration.

The Director-General of Benin Customs, Colonel Raouf Malèhossou, said the two administrations must move beyond sharing experiences to implementing coordinated border management techniques.

Malèhossou said the objective was to determine whether a truck, trader or traveller could be processed only once and whether the two countries’ data and risk-management systems could communicate before the movement reached the border.

He stressed the importance of risk management in facilitating legitimate trade while protecting the border against illicit activities.

According to him, modern roads, scanners and other infrastructure alone cannot guarantee an efficient border.

He said institutional coordination, digital interoperability, clear lines of responsibility and continuous investment in customs personnel were equally important.

Malèhossou said the reforms would help Nigeria and Benin take advantage of the opportunities presented by intra-African trade, particularly under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has dismissed allegations that it deliberately targeted or ‘witch-hunted’ insurance operators in the course of the recapitalisation exercise, insisting that every regulatory action was taken in the interest of policyholders and the stability of the industry.

NAICOM Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Omosehin, said the Commission would ‘never witch-hunt any operator’, stressing that its responsibility was to protect policyholders while ensuring that insurance companies complied with the regulatory requirements governing the industry.

His position followed questions from journalists over the cancellation of licences of some operators that failed to meet the recapitalisation requirements, amid allegations by some affected companies that the regulatory process was unfair.

Omosehin, however, maintained that the Commission’s decisions were not arbitrary, explaining that operators went through a structured process before their applications for recapitalisation clearance could be approved.

According to him, the process involved self-assessment by the operators, review by NAICOM, independent verification by one of the Big Four audit firms and final consideration by the Commission’s Governing Board.

The independent verification was conducted by firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst and Young (EY), providing an additional layer of scrutiny before the regulatory decisions were taken.

The Commissioner said NAICOM’s concern throughout the exercise was not simply whether an operator appeared to have raised the required capital, but whether the requirements had been genuinely and satisfactorily met.

He stressed that the regulator’s actions should therefore be viewed against its statutory responsibility to ensure that only financially sound and properly governed operators remain in the market to serve policyholders.

The development comes against the backdrop of allegations surrounding the recapitalisation exercise, including claims of irregularities involving the process and the amounts reportedly raised by some operators.

Omosehin’s defence effectively places the burden on the regulator to demonstrate that the cancellations were based on verifiable deficiencies rather than regulatory discretion or hostility towards particular companies.

He said NAICOM remained committed to a transparent and rules-based regulatory environment, insisting that the Commission’s overriding objective was to build a stronger insurance industry capable of meeting its obligations to policyholders.

The Commissioner also reiterated that the recapitalisation exercise was designed to strengthen the industry’s financial capacity and improve confidence in insurance, rather than to punish operators.

He said the Commission would continue to engage stakeholders while enforcing the rules necessary to protect the integrity of the industry.

For operators whose licences were affected by the exercise, however, the central issue remains the basis upon which their individual applications failed to secure regulatory clearance.

NAICOM’s position is that the rigorous multi-stage verification process provides the basis for its decisions, with the Commission insisting that its regulatory actions were taken to safeguard the industry and its policyholders.

Food scientists, regulators, health professionals, manufacturers and consumer representatives have called for stronger, evidence-based regulation and public communication on the use and safety of low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) in Nigeria.

The stakeholders made the call at a two-day NIFST Academy and International Sweeteners Association (ISA) workshop on ‘Low- and No-Calorie Sweeteners in Nigeria: The Science and Safety,’ held in Lagos from August 31 to September 1.

The meeting focused on the scientific evidence on LNCS, their regulation, consumer safety, and the challenges of using these ingredients in food and beverage reformulation in Nigeria.

LNCS are food ingredients that provide sweetness with little or no calories. They are commonly used in beverages, tabletop sweeteners, supplements, and some medicinal products, particularly to reduce sugar and calorie content.

The stakeholders said Nigeria needed to strengthen the link between scientific evidence, public health policy, regulation and consumer education as concerns over diet-related non-communicable diseases continue to grow.

President of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Dr Bola Osinowo, said the NIFST Academy was established to build professional competence and promote the use of science and data to address food and nutrition challenges.

Osinowo said discussions on sweeteners had become increasingly important against the backdrop of the country’s growing burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases.

Presenting the scientific basis for assessing the safety of LNCS, ISA Director-General Laurent Oger said safety assessments should be based on the totality of available evidence rather than isolated studies.

According to him, independent expert bodies consider factors including the quality and relevance of studies, consistency of findings and biological plausibility when determining the safety of food additives.

He said risk assessments could include evidence from metabolism, toxicology, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive studies, human studies, exposure assessments and epidemiological research.

Oger also explained the role of the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), describing it as a protective benchmark for lifetime daily exposure to a substance.

He said the ADI is derived from the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL), with an additional safety factor applied to account for differences between experimental animals and humans as well as variations among individuals.

The workshop heard that assessments by international regulatory and scientific bodies, including the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have supported the safety of approved LNCS when used within established conditions.

Stakeholders also cited evidence from randomised controlled trials showing that approved sweeteners, when used to replace sugars and other carbohydrates that raise blood glucose, do not adversely affect blood glucose, HbA1c or insulin secretion.

They emphasised the need to keep consumption within established ADI limits.

In Nigeria, stakeholders identified existing regulations as well as gaps in technical capacity, consumer awareness and risk communication.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said Nigeria already had the Food Additives Regulations 2021 and the Non-Nutritive Sweeteners in Food Products Regulations 2021 to guide the use of such ingredients.

The agency also noted that the Federal Government’s sugar-sweetened beverage tax had encouraged manufacturers to consider reformulating products to reduce sugar content.

However, participants said local manufacturers needed more technical support to address challenges in replacing sugar while maintaining taste, bulk, mouthfeel, viscosity and product stability, particularly under Nigeria’s hot, humid storage and distribution conditions.

The workshop also identified what participants described as a gap between awareness and functional knowledge of sweeteners among Nigerians.

Studies cited at the meeting indicated that while many consumers may be aware of sweeteners as alternatives to sugar, some consumers and professionals still have limited understanding of the ingredients’ metabolic effects and safety.

Stakeholders said the information gap, combined with the rapid spread of unverified claims online, could contribute to public confusion and misinformation about LNCS.

In its communique, the meeting recommended that the NIFST Academy and ISA develop evidence-based risk communication tools targeted at nutritionists, dietitians and medical practitioners.

Stakeholders said these tools should help address misconceptions about sweeteners and improve health professionals’ ability to communicate scientific evidence to the public.

They also called for greater alignment between Nigeria’s Food Additives Regulations 2021, the Non-Nutritive Sweeteners Regulations, and Codex Alimentarius standards.

According to the communique, such harmonisation should help simplify the registration and approval process for products reformulated with sweetener systems assessed by JECFA, while maintaining appropriate safety requirements.

Participants included representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, NAFDAC, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE), food and beverage manufacturers, academic institutions, consumer groups, nutrition organisations and the media.

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu on Monday called for stronger collaboration among governments, traditional and religious institutions, development partners and philanthropists to tackle Nigeria’s maternal and newborn mortality burden.

First Lady Tinubu’s call came even as the Federal Government rolled out 215,000 MAMA kits, 40,000 maternal food-support packs and 40,000 sets of newborn clothing for vulnerable women and families nationwide.

Mrs Tinubu said the scale of the challenge required collective action to ensure that the interventions reached pregnant women, particularly those in poor, underserved and hard-to-reach communities.

Speaking at the flag-off of the distribution at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, the First Lady said pregnancy and childbirth should be occasions of hope rather than a threat to the lives of Nigerian women.

‘This occasion represents a further step towards ensuring that every Nigerian child has a healthy start in life and that no woman loses her life while giving birth’, she said.

The intervention is being implemented under the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and is designed to encourage greater use of antenatal, delivery and postnatal services.

Mrs Tinubu said the programme aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on Health, which places healthcare at the centre of national development.

She described MAMII as a bold national intervention bringing together critical stakeholders to tackle preventable maternal and newborn deaths through greater awareness, emergency care and more effective referral systems.

‘As a mother, I believe pregnancy and childbirth should be moments of hope and joy, with every woman having access to quality care. However, social, economic, cultural, and logistical barriers still exist. This is what makes today’s flag-off particularly significant’, the First Lady said.

According to her, the 215,000 MAMA kits and bags constitute the second batch of the intervention, following the distribution of 110,000 kits in 2025.

She said the government was complementing the kits with 40,000 maternal food-support packs and 40,000 sets of essential newborn clothing, and would later expand the intervention to additional local government areas where uptake of MAMII services remained low.

Mrs Tinubu explained that the incentives were intended to encourage economically disadvantaged pregnant women to attend antenatal clinics, prepare adequately for childbirth and remain connected to healthcare services after delivery.

‘The newborn clothing represents the administration’s commitment to welcoming every Nigerian child with dignity, warmth, and care.

‘The maternal food support equally recognises that the health and nutrition of a mother are essential to a healthy pregnancy, safe delivery, and a healthy newborn’, she said.

She urged state and local governments, as well as traditional and religious leaders, development partners, and philanthropists, to work with the Federal Government to ensure the materials reached women who needed them most.

The First Lady also highlighted interventions she had supported in maternal and child healthcare, including the provision of professional kits to midwives, retraining of frontline health workers and advocacy against mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis.

She commended the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, and officials of the ministry for their commitment to reducing preventable deaths among women and newborns.

In his message, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Pate, said the intervention was part of a wider Federal Government strategy to expand access to essential healthcare and reverse the country’s high burden of preventable maternal and neonatal deaths.

According to him, the government’s sector-wide approach targets a 30 per cent reduction in maternal mortality and a 20 per cent reduction in newborn mortality by 2028, with approximately 2.9 million pregnant women and families expected to benefit.

He said MAMII was already being implemented in several states, focusing on emergency obstetric and newborn care, transportation, referral systems and stronger primary healthcare delivery.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, described Nigeria’s maternal mortality burden as ‘one of the most sobering realities of our nation’.

Nigeria, according to figures presented at the event, accounts for nearly 39 per cent of global maternal deaths.

Salako said the government was intensifying efforts to expand antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, emergency medical services and timely referrals, especially for women constrained by poverty, distance and other barriers to healthcare.

He said the administration’s message to Nigerian women was that ‘help continues to come and help is very, very close, and it is coming faster.’

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ipalibo Banigo, commended the Federal Government for placing maternal and newborn survival high on its health agenda but stressed that sustained legislative and institutional support would be necessary to achieve lasting results.

She called for stronger funding for the health sector, improved primary healthcare facilities, and wider access to emergency services, saying reducing maternal deaths required close collaboration between the executive and legislature.

World Health Organisation Country Representative, Dr Pavel Ursu, said the success of the intervention would ultimately be measured by whether it improved women’s access to quality healthcare and saved lives.

‘Primary health care is so important. It brings life-saving care closer to families, builds trust, and connects communities to wider health systems’, Ursu said.

He urged authorities to deploy data more effectively to identify gaps and channel resources to communities with the greatest needs.

‘Data should show us who is being reached, where gaps remain and where action is most important’, he said, adding that ‘implementation will therefore matter as much as the ambition’.

Ursu also advocated greater ownership and domestic financing by states, stressing that although development partners could assist the country, Nigerian institutions would have to drive sustainable progress.

‘Lasting progress must be rooted in Nigerian institutions, budgets, and accountability’, he said.

The WHO representative also paid tribute to healthcare workers, whose efforts, he said, remained central to translating government policies and investments into lives saved.

‘Every day, often in difficult environments, they stand behind women and families at the most vulnerable moments. Their skills, dedication and compassion turn policies into lifesaving,’ Ursu said.

Other development partners, including the World Bank, stressed the need for sustained financing, accountability, and stronger health systems, noting that distributing material incentives must be matched by functional facilities, skilled personnel, effective referral systems, and quality healthcare.

The Federal Government said about 642,000 pregnant women had so far been moved to healthcare facilities within their communities, while more than 85,000 women had been transported for emergency care.

It added that more than 93,000 women had benefited from free life-saving surgical procedures nationwide, with the interventions contributing to a reported 22 per cent reduction in maternal mortality in facilities equipped to provide the services.

More than 250 health facilities across Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano and Katsina states are also implementing MAMII, with over 42,000 women and 1,700 newborns said to have benefited directly from emergency obstetric and newborn care.

Nearly 79,000 beneficiaries have also been transported to health facilities, while antenatal attendance and facility deliveries reportedly increased by about 20 per cent in areas covered by the programme within one quarter.

Senior government officials, lawmakers, health-sector agencies, development partners, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organisations, healthcare workers, and beneficiaries attended the event.

Among those present were the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Mariya Mahmoud; Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye; Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr Kelechi Ohiri; and Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Prof. Muyi Aina.

Representatives of the Sultan of Sokoto, Christian Association of Nigeria, UNICEF and other development partners also attended the flag-off.