Based on the decision to establish Basel Convention Regional Centres (BCRCs) worldwide taken by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention, BCRCs were established to cater for capacity building in developing s and economies in transition countries to be able to tackle the technical, legal and institutional requirements for implementation of the Convention.

Decision III/19 of the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties, agreed on the establishment of two coordinating centres: in Nigeria for the African Region and in Uruguay for the Latin America and the Caribbean.Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training & Technology Transfer for the African  Region (BCCC-Africa) was established in September 1994 and has since been in operation to service the entire African continent. The Centre was also established as the Federal Ministry of Environment-University of Ibadan Linkage Centre for Cleaner Production Technology & Hazardous Waste Management. This Centre is located within the serene environment of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria's premier university, in South-West of Nigeria.

BCCC-Africa coordinates the Basel Convention Regional centres in: South Africa (for Anglophone countries in Africa), Senegal (for Francophone countries in Africa), and Egypt (for Arab states)

The Centre plays a key role in building the capacity of the African countries to implement the Basel Convention and its amendments , and to enhance their knowledge of chemicals and hazardous wastes issues and to address their lack of inventories on waste generation and other infrastructural deficiencies which are expressed in the priority needs of the countries. The Centre receives financial assistance from the Federal Government of Nigeria, and the Basel Convention Trust fund. Potential future sources of funding include revenue from the services provided, fees and earned interest charged by the Centre.