Africa’s flagship free trade project is facing a storm of scrutiny after the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat awarded a 20 year, US$3.1bn concession to a little known Nigerian company, Bergmans Security Consultants and Supplies Ltd, to digitize and harmonize customs systems across 50 African countries. The deal; the largest operational contract in AfCFTA’s history, is being hailed by officials as a breakthrough for continental integration. But analysts warn that the company’s opaque credentials raise serious questions about whether Africa’s most ambitious economic reform can be entrusted to an outfit with limited public track record.
A giant leap or a giant gamble?
AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene described the concession as a “major milestone” in Africa’s quest to build a unified, technology driven trading system. The project promises continent wide digital customs infrastructure, real time cargo tracking, harmonized border procedures and non intrusive inspection technology; all intended to reduce clearance times, curb corruption and boost intra African trade. Yet the scale of the assignment; covering 1.3 billion people, dozens of border regimes and thousands of tariff lines, has left trade experts stunned that such responsibility has been placed in the hands of a firm that, until recently, was barely known outside Nigeria’s customs modernization circles. Bergmans’ rise to continental prominence rests largely on its work with the Nigeria Customs Service, where officials claim its digital tools improved clearance speeds and tripled revenue. But independent verification of these claims remains thin.
A critical system, an untested steward
The AfCFTA’s success hinges on its ability to harmonize customs standards across a continent where overlapping regional blocs: ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, EAC, and CEMAC each operate their own tariff regimes. Even within single countries, multiple systems coexist. No software solution, however sophisticated, can overcome the political fragmentation that has long undermined Africa’s trade ambitions. Intra African trade remains stuck at 15% of total trade; far below the 60% in the EU, 40% in NAFTA and 30% in ASEAN. AfCFTA hopes to raise this to 25% by 2035, but that target depends on political will as much as technology. The risk, analysts say, is that Bergmans has been handed a mandate that no private contractor can deliver alone, especially one without a proven continental footprint.
Governance and transparency concerns
The concession’s size and duration; US$3.1bn over 20 years, make it one of the most valuable public private partnerships in African trade history. But the selection process has drawn criticism for its opacity. AfCFTA officials have praised Bergmans’ “ingenuity” and “experience,” yet the company’s corporate disclosures, financial capacity, and technical partnerships remain largely undisclosed.
Trade governance specialists warn that entrusting a single firm with the digital backbone of Africa’s customs architecture creates systemic vulnerability. If Bergmans fails to deliver, or if political disputes arise, the continent could be locked into a costly, underperforming system for decades. “This is not just a software contract,” one regional trade adviser said. “It is the operating system of Africa’s economic future.”
Political will: the missing ingredient
Even the most advanced customs platform cannot force governments to harmonize tariffs, dismantle non tariff barriers or align regulatory standards. AfCFTA’s own reports highlight that slow trade reform and democratic backsliding are hampering progress. The continent’s customs landscape is shaped less by technology than by politics; and politics moves slowly. The question is whether Bergmans’ systems will be deployed into an environment ready to use them. Without coordinated political commitment, the project risks becoming a high tech façade masking the same old fragmentation.
A high stakes experiment for AfCFTA
For AfCFTA, the Bergmans concession is a test of credibility. If successful, it could accelerate Africa’s integration and unlock billions in new trade flows. If it falters, it could set back the continent’s most important economic initiative for a generation. The stakes are enormous: Africa is attempting to build a single market larger than the EU, but with far weaker institutions and far deeper political divisions. Entrusting that effort to a firm with limited continental experience is either a bold bet on African private sector capacity; or a dangerous gamble with the future of the world’s largest free trade zone. AfCFTA officials insist the project will “position customs systems in Africa to be digital, transparent and accountable.” But until Bergmans proves it can deliver at scale, skepticism will persist. Africa’s economic integration may depend not only on political will, but on whether a little known Nigerian contractor can rise to a challenge that has defeated governments for decades.