At the bustling Seme border post where the noise of cross-border trade never sleeps, 42-year-old Amaka Eze, a small-scale trader from Enugu, stares at her smartphone, squinting through the English-laden instructions on a Customs trade app. She sells secondhand clothes and accessories across the Benin-Nigeria border, and while business is brisk, technology has become a new kind of border: invisible but deeply limiting.
“I know what I want to do. I just don’t understand how to do it because it’s all in English,” she said, her voice tinged with both frustration and hope.
That sense of alienation, and the desire to bridge it, is what Nigeria’s Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, is determined to change. In a forward-looking declaration, CGC Adeniyi recently reaffirmed his commitment to integrating indigenous Nigerian languages into the B’Odogwu Trade Platform, a flagship Customs digital tool aimed at simplifying trade procedures.
“We want the B’Odogwu platform to reflect the realities of our people, their culture, their voices, their languages. Trade must be inclusive if it is to be sustainable,” Adeniyi declared at a stakeholder meeting in Abuja.
A Platform That Speaks Like the People
The B’Odogwu platform was launched as part of Customs’ modernization agenda, offering traders a streamlined, digital experience for documentation, clearance, and cross-border transactions. Yet, despite its cutting-edge design and automation features, it quickly became clear that one major group was being left out: everyday Nigerians without formal education or English proficiency.
By introducing local languages such as Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, and possibly even pidgin, Customs is no longer just innovating, it’s listening. And that shift is what humanizes this policy.
For traders like Alhaji Musa Sani, a pepper merchant in Kano who frequently moves goods through Katsina’s border, the new development is more than welcome.
“If I can use my own language on the app, I won’t need to pay someone to help me fill forms or check approvals,” Musa said. “It saves time, money, and makes me feel respected.”
Flashback: The Digital Leap, and Who Got Left Behind
When B’Odogwu first debuted in 2023, it was hailed as a breakthrough in Nigeria’s trade automation process, a leap toward efficiency, transparency, and regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). However, within months, reports emerged that many informal traders, particularly women and youth in rural communities, were struggling to navigate the system.
The challenge wasn’t the technology. It was the language.
The platform, built in English and later partially translated to French for regional engagement, assumed a level of digital and linguistic literacy that many traders didn’t possess. The unintended result: reliance on middlemen, increased costs, and loss of confidence in the system.
Adeniyi’s Inclusion Agenda: More Than Customs, It’s Culture
Since assuming office, CGC Adeniyi has consistently emphasized people-centered reform. From customs decentralization to gender mainstreaming and stakeholder engagements, his leadership has taken a distinctly inclusive tone.
This latest move reinforces his belief that governance should not only be efficient but also empathetic.
“If we want to grow our economy and reduce poverty, we must give our people the tools they can use, not tools they have to fear or outsource,” he said.
That approach echoes global conversations around decolonizing digital public infrastructure, building platforms that are culturally and linguistically rooted, not just technologically advanced.
Beyond the Interface: A National Statement
Language is more than a tool. It’s identity. And when public institutions like Customs embrace local tongues, they send a powerful message: that every Nigerian matters in the economy, not just those who speak “the right” language.
Professor of a development economist at the University of Ibadan, sees the move as pivotal.
“This is not just about logistics. It’s about dignity. It’s about inclusion. You’re telling a market woman in Onitsha that her voice matters as much as any multinational importer in Victoria Island.”
What’s Next: From Vision to Everyday Impact
As Customs begins the technical work of translation, usability testing, and onboarding, expectations are high. Community awareness campaigns, voice-enabled features, and real-time support will be necessary to ensure full adoption.
But for now, traders like Amaka Eze can look forward to a digital tool that doesn’t shut them out, but welcomes them in.
“If I see Igbo on that screen, I will know this app is truly for me,” she said, smiling.
And that’s the quiet revolution CGC Wale Adeniyi is steering, one that speaks not just in code and policy, but in the language of the people.
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