In brief
Customs authorities across Africa are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to modernise border operations, accelerate clearance and strengthen enforcement. From AI‑driven cargo profiling and valuation to predictive risk analytics and digital surveillance, automation is becoming embedded in core customs infrastructure. Jurisdictions including Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa are deploying intelligence‑enabled systems to detect non‑compliance earlier while reducing inspections for trusted traders. These reforms promise faster processing, greater transparency and improved trade facilitation, but they also raise compliance expectations for businesses operating across African borders. As AI shifts from experimentation to operational deployment, traders will need stronger data governance, internal controls and digital readiness to engage effectively with increasingly automated and intelligence‑driven customs environments.
In more detail
Revenue authorities across the African continent are deepening automation and machine-learning adoption to speed up processes and strengthen compliance.
Automation gains momentum across the continent
Customs Authorities on the African continent are rapidly deploying AI to modernise border controls, sharpen enforcement, and cut clearance delays. AI‑enabled systems are increasingly performing validation, profiling, and administrative checks, allowing officials to focus on high‑risk work.
Egypt — Advance Customs Information system and smart valuation
Egypt is expanding automation and integrating AI into its customs framework, focusing on faster clearance, accurate valuations, and enhanced risk assessment. Authorities are incorporating AI into the Advance Cargo Information system to improve classification and targeting, with the air‑cargo module expected to become compulsory from 2026 onwards as part of the nationwide “Nafeza” single‑window platform.
Kenya — AI surveillance reshapes Mombasa port operations
Kenya is deploying AI directly into frontline customs operations. At the Port of Mombasa, AI‑driven surveillance now tracks cargo movement in real time and identifies anomalies for targeted anti‑smuggling action. Kenya is also upgrading digital infrastructure at Mombasa, adding intelligent systems to alleviate congestion and improve cargo handling. These tools support the broader overhaul of the Integrated Customs Management System, where AI will drive decision‑making and cargo‑management processes. The Kenya Revenue Authority has also launched a new e‑Customs platform that digitally verifies declarations and speeds up border processing.
Morocco — Predictive analytics embedded in customs reform
Morocco has implemented an AI‑powered risk‑management channel as part of a modernisation strategy, delivered in partnership with the World Customs Organization and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. The system uses predictive analytics and data‑driven targeting to enhance border controls and strengthen trade‑facilitation outcomes.
Nigeria — AI-powered profiling and the rise of B’Odogwu
Nigeria is targeting a 50% reduction in physical cargo checks by applying AI‑driven profiling to identify high‑risk containers while accelerating clearance for compliant traders. This transition is enabled by B’Odogwu, the new end‑to‑end digital clearance platform. B’Odogwu integrates AI‑supported valuation checks, real‑time visibility tools, and machine‑learning analytics to detect suspicious patterns long before goods reach the port.
South Africa — The South African Revenue Service (SARS) ramps up modernisation and digital tools
SARS is advancing a wide-ranging Customs Modernisation Programme, adopting AI-enabled capabilities to strengthen risk detection and border decision-making.
In 2025, SARS issued a Request for Information for an AI-driven digital-twinning system, testing market capacity for cognitive automation. Under its Modernisation 3.0 strategy, SARS plans to become a digitally enabled, insights-driven authority, embedding AI across future workflows. These plans are supported through the SARS Marketplace, which invites private-sector participation in data-integrity and customs-technology initiatives, and through operational projects such as AI-based risk engines.
As part of this shift, in 2024 SARS announced that it had begun automating the management of customs and excise bonds through its new Guarantee Management Service, which processes bond-related notifications and provides traders with real-time, digital access to their guarantees via eFiling.
A regional shift towards smarter customs operations
Across Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa, AI is shifting from concept to core customs infrastructure, making authorities faster, smarter, and more data‑driven. As a result, non‑compliance risks will surface earlier and trigger quicker intervention. In turn, compliant taxpayers benefit from faster processing, fewer inspections, and more predictable outcomes. This continent‑wide move toward intelligence‑driven customs raises compliance expectations and reinforces the need for stronger internal controls and greater digital readiness. Taxpayers should therefore be prepared to engage with customs environments that are increasingly digital, automated, and intelligence‑driven.
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Limani Mangaliso, Trainee, has contributed to this legal update.