Published by Osasere Edomwonyi Ikpoba
The Federal Government has drawn a line in the sand, issuing a firm end-of-November 2026 deadline for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to fully integrate into the second phase of the National Single Window, warning that bureaucratic fragmentation and regulatory duplication will no longer be tolerated as excuses for stifling Nigeria’s export competitiveness. The directive was handed down by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, during a high-level stakeholder engagement session in Abuja on Wednesday, where she declared that the era of exporters being forced to navigate the government’s internal chaos was over.
The National Single Window, which went live on March 27, 2026, has already demonstrated significant adoption under its first phase, processing more than 124,614 licences and permits, registering 11,096 importers and agents, training over 8,000 users, and facilitating approximately N12.59 billion in regulatory payments. However, Oduwole cautioned that the launch of the platform must not be confused with full operational readiness, stressing that the true test of the reform would be whether exporters experience fewer bureaucratic hurdles, greater transparency, and faster movement of goods from production to international markets.
The minister recalled that at the ministry’s November 2024 ministerial export consultation, exporters had identified seven major barriers, with more than half linked to fragmentation, duplication, weak coordination, and regulatory inconsistencies. She cited the experience of an exporter whose container was subjected to repeated inspections by different government agencies as a classic example of the bureaucratic friction the NSW is designed to eliminate. With Phase 2 now focused on exports, the government faces the more difficult test of translating digital integration into measurable reductions in clearance time, documentary duplication, and regulatory uncertainty.
Oduwole made it clear that the government’s operating principle must be “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,” she said. “That complexity is ours to solve, not theirs to carry. They should experience the Nigerian government as one government”.
The minister disclosed that the ministry had already begun aligning its internal processes across the Federal Produce Inspection Service, Regulatory Export Number, SON, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, and other relevant interfaces as part of preparations for the integrated export track. She charged participating agencies to leave the stakeholder engagement with clearly defined responsibilities, milestones, dependencies, and deadlines. “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,” she declared.
Data presented by the minister showed that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria accounted for more than 85,000 documents processed through the platform, attracting N9.95 billion in payments, while the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control processed 38,985 documents and generated N2.59 billion in regulatory payments. “These figures show real adoption. They also reinforce a critical lesson that go-live is not the same as readiness,” she said. According to her, Phase 2 must therefore connect export permits, certificates, licences, inspections, payments, and other critical processes within a coordinated end-to-end architecture.
The Executive Chairman of the National Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, who welcomed participants to the meeting, charged agencies involved in the implementation of the NSW to strictly adhere to the timelines to ensure the programme’s success. He said the government was committed to ensuring ease of doing business because that is the only way investors can come in and the economy will be better for it. The Director of the National Single Window Secretariat, Mr Tola Fakolade, disclosed that five government agencies had so far been fully onboarded onto the platform: the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, NAFDAC, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigeria Quarantine Service, and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency.
Fakolade also revealed that the government had implemented manifest submission through the platform, with 25 of the 27 airlines handling cargo in Nigeria onboarded—representing about 93 per cent participation—collectively submitting more than 2,523 air cargo manifests. Sea manifest submission was launched approximately three weeks ago, with 48 of 88 shipping lines onboarded and 99 manifests submitted so far. Fakolade acknowledged that the platform experienced technical difficulties during its early stages but said the challenges had been addressed and the system was being continuously improved. “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 reform is critical to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition of diversifying the economy, expanding non-oil exports, creating jobs, and placing Nigeria on the path towards a $1 trillion economy by 2030. Oduwole noted that exporters had identified seven major barriers at the ministry’s November 2024 ministerial export consultation, with more than half linked to fragmentation, duplication, weak coordination, and regulatory inconsistencies. With Phase 2 now focused on exports, the Federal Government faces the more difficult test of translating digital integration into measurable reductions in clearance time, documentary duplication, and regulatory uncertainty.
For Nigerian exporters who have for years endured the nightmare of overlapping agency mandates, repeated inspections, and opaque regulatory processes, the November deadline offers a glimmer of hope. The minister’s warning to MDAs was unambiguous: the era of bureaucratic fragmentation is ending, and those who fail to deliver risk being left behind. As Oduwole put it, the real test of Phase 2 will not be the number of government agencies connected to the platform but the experience of Nigerian exporters. An exporter should be able to understand the requirements, submit information once, track an application, make payments, secure approvals, and move a compliant Nigerian product to market with greater speed and predictability. The countdown to November has begun.
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