Since the early 1990s, Anglophone African countries have embarked on a series of customs administration reforms and modernisation initiatives aimed at enhancing revenue collection, trade facilitation, and supply-chain security. Drawing on evidence from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, this paper evaluates the scope, drivers, and outcomes of measures such as the creation of semi-autonomous revenue authorities, automation of core processes, risk-based clearance, post-release audit systems, and human-capital development programmes.

Incremental gains:

While reforms have yielded incremental gains—higher customs-to-GDP ratios, reduced dwell times, and improved trader satisfaction—they have also revealed persistent gaps when benchmarked against international good practice.

Diagnostic findings:

Diagnostic findings indicate that performance remains constrained by fragmented legal frameworks, limited inter-agency coordination, uneven implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions, and integrity challenges rooted in weak accountability mechanisms.

The way forward:

The paper argues that accelerating modernisation requires a shift from project-based interventions to holistic programmes that integrate customs with broader trade-facilitation and logistics agendas, strengthen regional cooperation under the AfCFTA, and leverage emerging technologies such as blockchain-enabled single windows and data analytics.

Conclusion:

These insights inform recommendations for the design of future reform strategies and the prioritisation of technical assistance in Anglophone Africa’s outstanding customs-modernisation agenda.