Yaounde: Finance minister lays foundation stone for 23 billion FCFA Customs Head Office.

Minister Motaze performed the ritual during a ceremony at the Etoudi neighbourhood in Yaounde yesterday. The event was attended by several members of government.

The member of government said the project will be realised under 44 months which will be around 2028. The project, the minister said, demonstrates the robustness of the country’s Customs. 

The building to be constructed by the China Machinery Engineering Corporation, CMEC Sarl, Motaze added, shows Sino-Cameroon relations are on a good footing.

Cameroon Customs Department, the minister noted, has evolved beyond collecting revenue to assuming other functions that border on promoting peace, national security, upgrading the living standards of citizens among other critical duties.

As a promoter of Cameroon’s economic competitiveness, the Minister said the Customs Department has positioned itself as a pillar in the nation´s financial ecosystem. 

He praised the continuous increase in revenue raised by Customs to power the country’s development. Minister Motaze disclosed that between 2015 and now, Customs revenue HAS increased by over 1,136 billion FCFA. In addition to this, he said Customs continues fighting against cross border crime, flow of illicit arms, entry of hard drugs, and other security challenges facing the state.

He paid tribute to Customs officers who have been attacked in line of duty especially those who were killed in Boko Haram attacks in the Far North Region and this year’s post-election tension.

Enter Customs Director General 

Speaking at yesterday’s event, the Director General, DG, of Customs, Edwin Fongod Nuvaga, said the launch of works is a dream come true for the institution under his control.

He traced the colonial history associated with Cameroon’s customs, noting that the project had long been in the pipeline. Fongod thanked different ministries and other State personalities who supported the vision and eased administrative work resulting in the allocation of land.

Fongod absolved the government from all blames for what looks like a belated construction of a customs head office, insisting that successive colonial administration maintained the customs headquarters in Douala because of nearness to the sea.

He disclosed that in 2006 government started consultations on building a new head office to assemble all Customs operations.

Talking about the financing of the project, Fongod said the World Bank provided funding to carry out the feasibility studies, under its fast-track financing window. 

He assured guests that combined efforts will be sustained to ensure the project is realised in time in the interest of the nation and boost performance.

Structure specifics

A representative of the China Machinery Engineering Corporation that will build the structure said the building will have capacity to host 800 staff.

The official said the main building will be a tower of two arms with one arm rising up to eleven floors, and the other consisting of two upper floors and a ground floor.

On the exterior, the same official noted that there will be two main gates, passage ways for vehicles and pedestrians in addition to a technical section and a fence built round the structure.

It was also detailed that, the structure will have offices for all customs services; reserve offices for ad hoc services; waiting rooms; conference rooms with capacities of 200 and 500 seats. 

It will also have a library; a museum; rooms for keeping achieves; a sports unit; a canteen; children´s rooms; conveniences, a dispensary; technical rooms; in and out door parking spaces; space for the location of solar panels; a system for recycling rain water and green spaces among other facilities.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3650 of Tuesday December 09, 2025