• Declares phase 1 grossed N12.59 billion in regulatory payments since going live, frowns on fragmented regulations • Zacch Adedeji: improving ease of doing business critical to attracting investment, economic
• Declares phase 1 grossed N12.59 billion in regulatory payments since going live, frowns on fragmented regulations
• Zacch Adedeji: improving ease of doing business critical to attracting investment, economic expansion, national prosperity
James Emejo in Abuja
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, yesterday, ordered Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) involved in the trade architecture to complete the second phase of the National Single Window (NSW) and be fully integrated into the initiative by the end of November.
Oduwole spoke at a high-level stakeholder engagement on the activation of Phase 2 of National Single Window and Export Tracker in Abuja. She warned that the success of the digital trade reform will not be measured by the number of agencies connected to the platform, but by whether Nigerian exporters could move goods from production to international markets faster, more cheaply, and with greater certainty.
The move aimed at dismantling the bureaucratic bottlenecks and regulatory fragmentation undermining the country’s export competitiveness.
Oduwole described the March 27 launch of NSW as a major milestone, adding that government cannot afford to mistake the platform’s “go-live” for full operational readiness.
She said the next phase must eliminate the internal complexities that had historically forced businesses to deal separately with multiple government agencies for permits, inspections, certificates, payments, and approvals.
The minister said, “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 the reform was central to President Bola Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, particularly efforts to expand non-oil exports, create jobs, deepen domestic production, and position Nigeria towards the administration’s $1 trillion economy ambition by 2030.
She stressed that achieving those objectives would require government to remove the institutional barriers confronting businesses beyond the physical border.
“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.
Oduwole recalled that exporters identified seven major barriers during the ministry’s November 2024 ministerial export consultation, with more than half attributed to institutional fragmentation, duplication, poor coordination, and inconsistent regulations.
She cited the case of an exporter whose container was repeatedly subjected to inspections by different government agencies, describing such experiences as precisely the type of bureaucratic friction the single window was designed to eliminate.
According to her, the principle guiding Phase 2 should be simple, “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.”
The urgency of the reform was underscored by the level of activity already recorded under Phase 1.
Oduwole disclosed that the platform had processed more than 124,614 licences and permits, registered 11,096 importers and agents, trained over 8,000 users, and facilitated about N12.59 billion in regulatory payments since going live.
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) accounted for more than 85,000 documents processed through the system, generating about N9.95 billion in regulatory payments, while National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) processed 38,985 documents and generated N2.59 billion.
Oduwole stated, “These figures show real adoption. They also reinforce a critical lesson that go-live is not the same as readiness.”
She said Phase 2 must move beyond connectivity to integrate export permits, certificates, licences, inspections, payments, and other critical processes into an end-to-end digital architecture.
She added that the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had commenced the alignment of its internal processes, involving 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.
Oduwole charged participating agencies to leave the engagement with specific responsibilities, milestones, dependencies and ownership of outstanding actions.
She said, “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.”
Earlier, Executive Chairman, National Revenue Service (NRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, urged agencies participating in the implementation to adhere strictly to the agreed timelines.
Adedeji said improving the ease of doing business remained critical to attracting investment, expanding economic activity, and improving national prosperity.
Providing an update on implementation, Director of the National Single Window Secretariat, Mr. Tola Fakolade, disclosed that five government agencies had so far been fully on-boarded onto the platform.
They include SON, NAFDAC, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Quarantine Service, and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
Fakolade said the platform had also recorded significant progress in the electronic submission of cargo manifests.
Of the 27 airlines handling cargo in Nigeria, 25 have been on-boarded, representing about 93 per cent participation, while more than 2,523 air cargo manifests have been submitted electronically.
The government, working with customs, also commenced electronic sea-manifest submission about three weeks ago.
Fakolade said 48 of the 88 shipping lines had so far been on-boarded, with 99 sea manifests submitted since the component was launched.
He acknowledged that the platform encountered technical difficulties during its initial implementation but said the challenges had been addressed and the system was being continuously upgraded.
He said, “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.”
