Nigeria could unlock up to $3 billion in logistics investment and generate about $18 million in yearly efficiency savings if the country’s planned National Single Window trade platform is implemented with strong private sector participation, Dele Kelvin Oye, chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE), has said ahead of the system’s March 27 launch.

The digital platform, designed to integrate government agencies involved in trade into a single online portal, is expected to simplify import and export procedures. Once operational, the system could cut cargo clearance time at Nigerian ports from the current 18 to 21 days to under 48 hours, reducing delays that have long undermined the country’s trade competitiveness.

Oye, who also serves as the chairman of the Nigeria-Turkiye Business Council, said in a statement that the success of the reform would depend largely on the level of private-sector involvement in the governance and implementation of the platform.

Oye, however, noted: “But here lies the paradox: Nigeria has chosen to domicile this trade facilitation tool under its tax authority rather than its trade promotion agency.

This makes Nigeria an outlier. When Singapore pioneered the world’s first Single Window in 1989, TradeNet, it placed it under the Trade Development Board, an economic agency focused on competitiveness, not revenue collection.

“Ghana’s successful GCNet operates as a Public-Private Partnership with 60 per cent private ownership. Rwanda, while using its Revenue Authority, ensures deep integration with the Rwanda Development Board. Nigeria’s model risks conflating trade facilitation with tax enforcement. The NRS secured legislative backing through the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, embedding the NSW within a fiscal rather than economic framework. While Dr Zacch Adedeji’s leadership at NRS has driven unprecedented inter-agency collaboration, the question remains: Can a tax agency truly prioritise trader convenience over revenue maximisation?”

He recommended the immediate domiciliation of the NSW at the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), with NRS as a stakeholder, not leader, saying: “This aligns with global best practice and positions Nigeria as an AfCFTA hub rather than a customs checkpoint.”