By Ewrhujakpor Godfrey Bivbere
Harboursandport.com: Lagos, Nigeria - February 16, 2026: In a bid to cripple the B' Odogwu Platform of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, hackers who have consistently attacked the platforms; towards the end of last year attacked the it eight times in one week.
The B'Odogwu platform is a Unified Customs Management System, UCMS used to digitise, accelerate, and streamline cargo clearance, replacing the older NICIS II system by the Nigeria Customs Service.
B' Odogwu which is an indigenous platform unlike previous ones that had foreign inputs, integrates regulatory agencies, banks, and importers for real-time, automated, and paperless documentation, reducing cargo clearance times from weeks to within 2-8 hours.
They have been cases where attacks had been made on the system resulting in stalled operation at both Apapa and Tin-can Island ports while the management of the service at the port levels battle very time of such attacks to get the platform back to work.
There were occasions when the platform stopped working for hours and so cases days, before normal services were restored.
Some stakeholders are of the opinion that the consistent attack on the platform was to ensure that stakeholders have doubt about the efficiency of the platform and therefore move for this crapping.
However others claim that these attacks were carried out by some persons who just want to show that they have the ability to interrupt the efficient operation of the platform.
Speaking with Harboursandport.com on the issue, Chairman and Managing Director of Widescope Logistics International, Segun Musa, said that the fact that the platform is opened to multiple attacks showed that enough effort was not put into its protection.
Although he acknowledged that the system as it's is working, warned that the Customs management must work at ensuring that the risk assessment ability of the platform is top notch.
He also called on the Customs management to work at fortifying the platform to ensure that hackers have hard time attacking it.
Responding to the above, the National Public Relations Office of the Service, Abdulahi Maiwada, confirmed to Harboursandport.com that there have actually been attempts in the past to hack the system but that the security measures put in place by the Service has always saved the day.
He noted that owners of systems like the B' Odogwu must have firewalls and must also have a dedicated cyber security team. He noted that Customs has both which shows the seriousness that the management attached to the protection of the platform.
According to him, "people are trying to attack the system; I think since last year, we have not experienced any downtime.
"We have people who don't want it to work, that wants to sabotage the system but we are up to the task," he assured.
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