The President of Badagry Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (BACCIMA) Alhaji Yahaya Idris Oladiran received in audience on Sunday 30th August 2026 a 2-man delegation from Benin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Benin) for a strategic meeting on Cross-border trade facilitation between Nigeria and Benin Republic.
The Benin delegation was led by Alhaji Abdul Razaq Azeez who is the Head of Trade Facilitation Committee and Mr. Ayi Klid, a member of the Trade Facilitation Committee, while BACCIMA team comprised of the President Alhaji Yahaya O. Idris and Mr. Abiola Hamid, a member.
While speaking, Alhaji Abdul Razak said the purpose of the visit was to intimate BACCIMA in the proposed Cross-border relation programme that has been detailed to NACCIMA for collaboration and that BACCIMA which is a strategic Chamber at the Nigeria-Benin border corridor is largely considered as a strategic party and role-player in the implementation process.
Alhaji Abdul Razak stated that it is high time the two Chambers in both countries come together for stake-holder relations towards ease of doing business by traders who are open to legal movement of their products in the spirit of ECOWAS Treaty which encourages free passage for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) trade on approved products under the treaty.
He stated further that approved perishable and non-perishable products need not encounter difficult passage in order to prevent smuggling and illegal movement of products. He said the collaboration will include Cross-border trade government agencies from both countries, trade associations such as pineapple, Orange, apple associations and joint Chamber representatives. He stated that NAFDAC and its Benin counterpart ABSSA would play significant roles in the collaboration for ensuring quality products in export/import along the Lagos- Abidjan corridor.
The Benin delegation leader also said the project will hopefully receive funding support from their partners as an offshoot of collaboration that is expected to stretch across ECOWAS States in the nearest future. While stating the modalities, he said a 3-day event has been proposed to include official visit to major cross-border trading markets in Lagos on the first day, and those in the Badagry corridor on the second day while the enlarged stake-holder meeting will hold at the Customs Conference center on the Nigeria side of the border with all border Security Agencies in attendance.
He concluded that the Benin Chamber has received collaboration nod from NACCIMA and counting on BACCIMA for a seamless support and hosting of the events. The proposed date for the event after joint deliberation is Monday 21st to Wednesday 23d September 2026.
While responding, Alhaji Yahaya thanked the Benin CCI delegation for their timely intervention and idea, stating that such wider collaborative efforts from Benin CCI & BACCIMA is long overdue particularly on trade facilitation. He said this is the only way to influence government policies on ease-of-doing-business on both ends especially for supporting small scale enterprise traders on the corridor.
BACCIMA President stated that the ECOWAS Treaty allows three products namely agricultural, hand work and manufacturing products of West Africa origin on free duties provided they are properly documented, which encourages smooth passage for exclusive goods must be upheld and that will help the actualization of the Intercontinental Free Trade Agreement vision at the larger African Union level.
BACCIMA President, citing from his experience as a retired Customs Officer and Staff Officer ETLS at Seme border, said that 80% of the difficulty encountered by the traders on the border are resolvable if right information and honest compliance are upheld on the path of traders as a justification for pushing government policy reviews, through their agencies on the borders to expedite smooth passage for goods and products.
Alhaji Yahaya then promised the support of BACCIMA for the project, stating that BACCIMA has been in fore front of Cross border trade formalization which CCI Benin is now advocating for, he foresees a sustainable collaboration between both Chambers in the interest of prosperous business gains for Nigeria and Benin as Sister countries.
The meeting which was held at Star Rise Golden Hotel, Ajara Agelaso started at 11:40am and ended at 2pm.