The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has disclosed plans, in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and other partners, to link the Export Process Terminals (EPTs) with Domestic Export Warehouses (DEWs) across the country to create structured channels for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to access international markets.

The Managing Director of the NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, said as part of efforts to deepen port-hinterland connectivity, the agencies are determined to link value creators in the remotest part of the hinterland with the farthest clusters of demand anywhere on the globe.

Dantsoho stated this during the ‘NPA Special Day’ at the Kaduna International Trade Fair 2026.

He said the reforms are targeted at dismantling long-standing bureaucratic bottlenecks that discouraged businesses’ participation in the export value chain.

Dantsoho said the export process terminals are structured as one-stop hubs for cargo consolidation, documentation, certification, stuffing, packaging and electronic shipment scheduling.

He said the EPTs are electronically integrated with port operations through the call-up system to ensure faster and seamless cargo evacuation, reduced congestion and improved turnaround time.

The export process terminals were conceptualised to simplify what used to be a burdensome export process. Today, exporters can complete documentation, packaging and shipment coordination seamlessly and efficiently,” he said.

Dantsoho further stated that the authority has simplified export procedures and deployed new processing terminals to integrate producers in the hinterland into global supply chains.

He called on the entire trading and investing public to explore the tailor-made simplified export processes and other vistas of opportunity to reposition Nigeria as a competitive trading country.

Dantsoho also restated the authority’s commitment towards advancing the implementation of the National Single Window (NSW) to ensure automation of port processes in line with global best practice in trade facilitation.

The NPA boss, however, described Kaduna State as a strategic commercial hub and gateway to the northern hinterland and neighbouring landlocked countries, making it central to Nigeria’s export expansion drive.

Dantsoho further reaffirmed NPA’s commitment to partnerships that will strengthen domestic production and enhance non-oil exports as part of broader efforts to diversify the economy.