The Trade Advocacy Committee, NTAC, of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, has expressed grave concern over the current implementation of the National Single Window, NSW, trade portal in Nigeria. <\/p>\n
The highly worried committee warned that instead of delivering the promised efficiency, the system is now distorting foreign trade and actively promoting trade malpractices across the maritime sector and is as well cause congestion at the ports presently at the ports.<\/p>\n
The committee as also noted that while the Single Window initiative is globally intended to enhance trade facilitation and promote efficiency in cargo clearance processes, its present structure and operation have instead created significant disruptions. NTAC argues that the rollout has resulted in increased costs of doing business, regulatory inconsistencies, and trade malpractices caused by persistent policy misapplications. These lapses, the committee said, are leading to avoidable delays in processing cargo delivery across Nigerian ports, eroding gains previously made in ease of doing business reforms.<\/p>\n
Recall that NAGAFF had earlier advocated that a seamless implementation of the National Single Window should start with thorough sanitation and revamping of the Nigerian Exchange Control System \u2014 Form M processes, establishment of a Port Community System, harmonization of trade laws, and the elimination of all legacy and existing archaic trade practices.<\/p>\n
According to the association, those foundational steps were critical to ensuring the NSW would not replicate old bottlenecks in a digital format. However, this advice was not considered by the implementing authorities before launch.<\/p>\n
The group are urging the federal government for a critical overview of the current situation after the introduction of the NSW system in the cargo clearance ecosystem clearly indicates:<\/p>\n
According to Dr. Increase UCHE, RFF, Lead Expert NAGAFF NTAC, he said, it was based onnthis that NTAC is of the view that Cargo clearance processes in Nigerian ports are partially stalled, as Form M pre-import procedures persist without any meaningful reform;
\nthat the NSW portal is technically designed for revenue generation rather than trade facilitation; that the peculiarities of the Nigerian business environment were not taken into consideration by the NSW secretariat. <\/p>\n
They are however arguing that partial shutdown of the operations of some regulatory agencies, thereby exposing them to weak regulatory enforcement status. <\/p>\n
That the NSW has no Single Source of Truth, SSOT \u2014 submit once and circulate to all parties; that the features of the facility exhibit the characteristics of a portal rather than a Single Window system \u2014 document uploads, manual attachments, etc., instead of the use of datasets. <\/p>\n
They are equally noted that lack of proper API integration, that is, system-to-system digital linkages, etc. <\/p>\n
The committee is insisting that the introduction of administrative cost rather than revenue collections is another source of concern for the stakeholders.<\/p>\n
Beyond the design gaps, NTAC also stressed that the operational reality at the ports is deteriorating. The inherent and noticeable systemic flaws in the NSW process implementation.<\/p>\n
Looking at the various concerns, NTAC concluded that:
\n“The implications of the current state of the ports are that the partial and poorly coordinated rollout of the Single Window model is already facilitating:<\/p>\n
That there is growing risk of corruption and exploitation of the importing public as actors seek shortcuts around system failures; encouragement of informal practices and unprofessional conduct, reversing years of compliance advocacy; increase in incidences of alleged fake SONCAP and other regulatory documents, as manual attachments create loopholes; creation of opportunities for rent-seeking behavior by economic operators who leverage gaps in system oversight; undermining of transparency and accountability among officials and service providers due to fragmented audit trails; Circumvention of regulatory controls by port users who exploit the absence of real-time inter-agency validation and numerous other issues raised by the committee.<\/p>\n
According to NTAC, the situation poses not just a trade problem but a national economic and security concern. The committee argued that a trade portal that weakens regulatory enforcement while increasing costs is antithetical to the Federal Government\u2019s blue economy and industrialization agenda. Without urgent correction, Nigeria risks losing cargo traffic to neighboring ports that offer more predictable clearance regimes.<\/p>\n
The committee said there is an urgent need for key stakeholders comprising agencies such as SON and NAFDAC, whose approvals are now vulnerable to duplication.
\n– Increase in document fraud, encouraging substandard imports that threaten public health and safety.
\n– Cloning and manipulation of import documents such as product certificates, SONCAP, phytosanitary certificates, and approvals already in circulation.
\n– Enabling fake and substandard products to flood the market, with long-term implications for local manufacturing.
\n– Gradual buildup of cargo diversion and smuggling activities as legitimate traders lose confidence in formal channels Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria
\n– National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF <\/p>\n
to collaborate with the NSW operators to address the looming crisis. NTAC insisted that only a coordinated, multi-agency approach can restore integrity to the process and prevent further erosion of stakeholder trust.<\/p>\n
In light of the above, we call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to urgently:<\/p>\n
– Convene a high-level stakeholder meeting with all critical actors in the cargo clearance value chain.
\n– Direct an immediate review of the NSW system architecture, workflows, and legal alignment.
\n– Mandate collaboration between all relevant agencies and system operators, with clear timelines and accountability metrics.<\/p>\n
*INTERIM REMEDIES*
\nTo restore efficiency and confidence in the system, the following actions are critical:<\/p>\n
1. Immediate technical and operational audit of the NSW platform by independent trade and IT experts.
\n2. Transition from a document-based portal to a truly integrated data system built on SSOT principles.
\n3. Full automation and elimination of manual bottlenecks, including uploads and physical sign-offs.
\n4. Strengthening of inter-agency integration and real-time data sharing through standardized APIs.
\n5. Restoration of regulatory enforcement mechanisms to prevent document cloning and substandard imports.
\n6. Implementation of transparent and accountable processes with end-to-end audit logs.
\n7. Temporary relief measures to mitigate demurrage and financial losses incurred due to system-induced delays.<\/p>\n
The National Single Window project remains a vital reform initiative for Nigeria\u2019s trade ecosystem. However, its current implementation is counterproductive and risks undermining national economic objectives. It may also pose a serious security threat to the economy unless the identified risk factors are sufficiently addressed and mitigated.<\/p>\n
Dr. Increase UCHE, RFF, Lead Expert NAGAFF NTAC said urgent and decisive action is required to realign the system with WCO\/WTO global best practices, eliminate inefficiencies, and restore stakeholder confidence. NTAC maintained that Nigeria cannot afford a digital platform that recreates analog problems at greater scale and cost.<\/p>\n
This observation is being endorsed to the President of Nigeria, National Security Adviser, Hon. Minister of Finance, Hon. Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, Hon. Minister of Trade & Investment, Comptroller General of Customs, CRFFN, DG NAFDAC, SON etc for their information and necessary actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Trade Advocacy Committee, NTAC, of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, has expressed grave concern over the current implementation of the National Single Window, NSW, trade portal in Nigeria. The highly worried committee warned that instead of delivering the promised efficiency, the system is now distorting foreign trade and actively promoting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1709,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions\/1709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsemperormagazines.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}