…NSW platform processes 124,614 permits, N12.59bn payments since March launch

The Federal Government has set the end of November 2026 as the delivery deadline for the second phase of Nigeria’s National Single Window (NSW), with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, warning government agencies against allowing bureaucratic fragmentation to continue undermining the country’s export competitiveness.

Oduwole gave the directive on Wednesday in Abuja at a high-level stakeholder engagement session on the activation of Phase 2 of the National Single Window and the Export Tracker, describing the digital trade platform as a long-awaited reform that should fundamentally change the way businesses interact with government.

According to her, the National Single Window, which went live on March 27, has already demonstrated significant adoption, processing more than 124,614 licences and permits, registering 11,096 importers and agents, training over 8,000 users and facilitating approximately N12.59 billion in regulatory payments.

She said the development was particularly significant for Nigeria as a trading nation, noting that the country had now joined the league of nations operating a national single-window system.

“It is a long time coming for Nigeria. We have joined the league of nations with a National Single Window and, for a trading nation, it was Mr President’s target and we all need to be proud of that,” the minister said.

Oduwole, however, stressed that launching the platform was only the beginning, insisting that its ultimate success would be determined by whether exporters experience fewer bureaucratic hurdles, greater transparency and faster movement of goods from production to international markets.

She said the reform was critical to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition of diversifying the economy, expanding non-oil exports, creating jobs and placing Nigeria on the path towards a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

“Trade does not happen at the border alone. It depends on the system connecting production to market, standards, finance, logistics, regulation, border processing and digital platforms,” she said.

The minister recalled that exporters had identified seven major barriers at the ministry’s November 2024 ministerial export consultation, with more than half linked to fragmentation, duplication, weak coordination and regulatory inconsistencies.

She cited the experience of an exporter whose container was subjected to repeated inspections by different government agencies as an example of the bureaucratic friction the National Single Window is expected to eliminate.

While acknowledging the progress recorded under Phase 1, Oduwole cautioned that the government must not confuse the launch of the platform with full operational readiness.

She said the experience of the first phase had demonstrated that integration, data migration, change management, user support and data governance were equally important components of the digital infrastructure.

Data presented by the minister showed that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) accounted for more than 85,000 documents processed through the platform, attracting N9.95 billion in payments, while the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) processed 38,985 documents and generated N2.59 billion in regulatory payments.

“These figures show real adoption. They also reinforce a critical lesson that go-live is not the same as readiness,” she said.

According to her, Phase 2 must therefore connect export permits, certificates, licences, inspections, payments and other critical processes within a coordinated end-to-end architecture.

She said the government’s operating principle must be “one portal, one submission and one coordinated process.”

“Information already held by the government should not be requested repeatedly. Institutions will retain their statutory responsibilities, but exporters do not have to navigate the government’s internal complexity to complete one transaction.

“That complexity is ours to solve, not theirs to carry. They should experience the Nigerian government as one government,” she said.

Oduwole disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had begun aligning its internal processes across the Federal Produce Inspection Service (FPIS), Regulatory Export Number (REX), SON, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and other relevant interfaces as part of preparations for the integrated export track.

She charged participating agencies to leave the stakeholder engagement with clearly defined responsibilities, milestones, dependencies and deadlines.

“At the close of this engagement, we must know what we own in the Phase 2 journey, where we stand against the agreed milestones, what remains outstanding, which institutions or systems we depend on and who owns the next action, with a firm delivery date which is the end of November 2026,” she said.

The minister said the real test of Phase 2 would not be the number of government agencies connected to the platform but the experience of Nigerian exporters.

She said an exporter should be able to understand the requirements, submit information once, track an application, make payments, secure approvals and move a compliant Nigerian product to market with greater speed and predictability.

Earlier while welcoming participants to the meeting, the Executive Chairman of the National Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, charged agencies involved in the implementation of the National Single Window, to strictly adhere to the timelines to ensure the success of the programme.

He said the government was committed to ensuring ease of doing business because that is the only way investors can come in and the economy will be better for it.

Also speaking, the Director of the National Single Window Secretariat, Mr Tola Fakolade, said five government agencies had so far been fully onboarded onto the platform.

They are the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, NAFDAC, Nigerian Customs Service, Nigeria Quarantine Service and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).

Fakolade said the government had also implemented manifest submission through the platform, recording substantial adoption by air cargo operators.

According to him, 25 of the 27 airlines handling cargo in Nigeria have been onboarded onto the National Single Window, representing about 93 per cent participation.

The airlines have collectively submitted more than 2,523 air cargo manifests through the platform, he said.

He added that the government, in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service, launched sea manifest submission approximately three weeks ago, allowing shipping lines to submit manifests electronically through the National Single Window.

So far, 48 of the 88 shipping lines have been onboarded, while 99 manifests have been submitted since the launch of the sea-manifest component.

Fakolade acknowledged that the platform experienced technical difficulties during its early stages but said the challenges had been addressed and the system was being continuously improved.

“Overall, this is showing that there is strong adoption, even though there were technical challenges in the beginning. We were able to fix all those and ensure that the platform continues to get better every day,” he said.

With Phase 2 now focused on exports, the Federal Government faces the more difficult test of translating digital integration into measurable reductions in clearance time, documentary duplication and regulatory uncertainty.