The Federal Government has set November 2026 as the deadline for ministries, departments and agencies to complete the second phase of the National Single Window, with a focus on making exports faster and less complicated.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, announced this on Wednesday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ meeting on the National Single Window and Export Tracker.
She said the second phase was expected to tackle the multiple regulatory procedures and poor coordination among government agencies that often create additional costs and delays for exporters.
“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,” Oduwole said.
The minister said the digital platform, which commenced operations on March 27, had so far handled more than 124,614 licences and permits. She added that 11,096 importers and agents had been registered, while over 8,000 users had undergone training.
She further disclosed that regulatory payments worth approximately N12.59bn had been processed through the platform.
“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,” she said.
Oduwole cautioned that the introduction of the platform should not be regarded as the end of the reform process. According to her, the initiative would only be successful if businesses actually experienced simpler procedures, reduced waiting periods and greater certainty when exporting goods.
She said the project formed part of the administration’s efforts to reduce dependence on oil, expand non-oil exports, generate employment and support the ambition of building a $1tn 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 raised seven major concerns during a consultation held by the ministry in November 2024. She said several of the challenges were linked to overlapping processes, poor inter-agency cooperation and inconsistent regulatory requirements.
Oduwole particularly pointed to situations where exporters had to deal with repeated inspections of the same containers by different government agencies.
She explained that lessons from the first phase had shown that simply bringing agencies onto the platform would not be enough. Other areas requiring attention included the transfer of existing data, technical integration, user assistance, change management and proper data administration.
The meeting was told that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria had processed more than 85,000 documents on the system, with regulatory payments of N9.95bn recorded.
NAFDAC, meanwhile, had handled 38,985 documents and recorded N2.59bn in payments.
“These figures show real adoption. They also reinforce a critical lesson that go-live is not the same as readiness,” Oduwole said.
She said the second phase would bring key export-related activities, including permits, certificates, licences, inspections and payments, into a coordinated digital process.
The minister said the government was working towards an operating model of “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 said the ministry was already working with relevant agencies, including the Federal Produce Inspection Service, SON, NEPZA and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, to prepare the integrated export system.
She said the success of Phase 2 would ultimately depend on whether exporters could access clear information, submit documents without repetition, track applications, make payments and secure approvals more quickly.
The Executive Chairman of the National Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, also called on the agencies involved to adhere to the agreed timelines.
Adedeji said improving the ease of doing business remained important to the government’s economic agenda and would help create conditions capable of attracting more investment.
The Director of the National Single Window Secretariat, Tola Fakolade, disclosed that five agencies had been fully onboarded onto the platform.
They are SON, NAFDAC, the Nigerian Customs Service, Nigeria Quarantine Service and NESREA.
Fakolade said the system had also recorded considerable progress in cargo-manifest submissions, with 25 out of 27 cargo-handling airlines now connected to the platform.
He said the participation represented about 93 per cent, while more than 2,523 air cargo manifests had been submitted.
He added that electronic submission of sea manifests was introduced in partnership with the Nigerian Customs Service about three weeks ago.
According to Fakolade, 48 of the 88 shipping lines had joined the system, with 99 sea manifests submitted since the feature was introduced.
While acknowledging technical difficulties at the beginning of the rollout, Fakolade said the challenges had been resolved.
“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.
The government is now expected to use the November deadline to ensure that the digital system delivers tangible improvements for exporters, particularly through reduced paperwork, fewer repeated inspections and faster processing of export transactions.
