The Federal Government has announced that phase one of the National Single Window (NSW) will go live on March 27.

Recall that government agencies and other port users have been undergoing the NSW User Acceptance Testing (UAT) since last year to enhance efficiency and operations within their respective areas in preparation for the commencement date.

In a statement made available to journalists, the Director of NSW Project, Tola Fakolade, said that as phase one goes live, the Federal Government is committed to working closely with the private sector, development partners and trade stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition and shared ownership of the reform.

According to a document from the NSW Office, phase one rollout will include licences, certificates and permits (LCPO) application submission, import manifest submission (air cargo and sea), centralised risk management for regulatory agencies and payments for LCPO.

For stakeholders, shipping lines and agents/companies’ registration will be done on the NSW platform, while sea manifests will be submitted directly by shipping lines to the NSW.

Also, the preferred medium is integration via web service for the transmission of the manifest following the Federal Government’s directive.

Manifests requiring amendment will be resubmitted by the shipping lines before transmission to Customs for review/approval (introducing segregation of duties).

Integrating the cargo manifest portal with government agencies such as the NPA, NIMASA and Customs will enable them to retrieve the sea manifests from the NSW Platform.

Also, traders will be applying for e-SEN via the NSW Platform, while the NPA will retrieve and process the application via the NSW platform.

Furthermore, payment collection will be facilitated via the NSW platform as ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) will transmit applicable fees/charges to the NSW for the trader to make payment.

The platform will reduce goods clearance time at the ports from between 12 and 21 days to one day, export of goods from 11 days to one day, and physical examination of containers by agencies would be reduced from 90 per cent to 10 per cent.

Clearing cost, including clearing charges, demurrage and logistics costs, which is 1.8 times more compared to neighbouring West African Countries, will reduce.

Providing insight into the implementation strategy, Fakolade explained that the Federal Government has deliberately adopted a phased rollout approach, beginning with phase one, which will focus primarily on statutory permits and cargo manifests.

Fakolade said this will allow stabilisation of the system, build confidence among stakeholders, and deliver immediate value where bottlenecks are most pronounced.

Fakolade added that the decision to phase the launch reflects lessons learned from previous large-scale technology initiatives that adopted a “big bang” approach.

“We have learned from the flaws of past big bang technological rollouts, where attempting to do everything at once created avoidable disruptions. Phasing the NSW is a deliberate and strategic choice – one that prioritises sustainability, user adoption and continuous improvement over speed for speed’s sake,” he stated.

He further emphasised that subsequent phases will gradually expand the scope of the platform, onboard additional agencies and deepen integration across the trade value chain, ensuring a resilient and scalable system.

Fakolade added that this approach ensures that the NSW grows with the ecosystem, guided by real data, user feedback and operational realities.

“By simplifying trade processes and leveraging digital innovation, we are unlocking faster movement of goods, strengthening revenue assurance and creating a more competitive environment for Nigerian businesses to thrive locally and globally,” he noted.