Abuja: The Nigerian Government has intensified efforts to actualize the implementation of the National Single Window at the nation’s ports by 2026. The Vice President, who announced this, said the policy is aimed at creating a single platform to harmonize documentation, minimize human contact, and bring full transparency to the cargo clearance process, which would be a game changer at the ports.
According to Voice of Nigeria, VP Shettima, who stated this during the second meeting of the Ports and Customs Efficiency Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, noted that the target is to reduce average cargo clearance time from 21 days to less than seven days by the end of 2026. He said doing so will position Nigeria’s ports among the top three most potent trade corridors in Africa.
‘By the end of 2026, we aim to reduce average cargo clearance time in Nigeria to under seven days and to position our ports among the top three most efficient trade gateways on the continent,’ he stated. ‘The forthcoming implementation of the National Single Window in the first quarter of next year will be a game changer, a single platform that harmonizes documentation, minimizes human contact, and brings full transparency to the cargo clearance process.’
VP Shettima also directed the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), and other relevant agencies to come up with a roadmap on how to make Nigeria’s weights and measures framework effective. The framework conducts regular surveillance and inspections across Nigeria to ensure that weighing and measuring equipment used in trade is accurate and that consumers receive the correct value for their money in line with standard global practice.
The main objective is to ensure consumer protection, which is achieved by preventing fraud and misrepresentation in commercial transactions involving weights and measures. Demanding a roadmap for an effective weights and measures framework, the Vice President said the target is to improve port operations, make cargo clearance faster and more efficient by reducing average cargo clearance time from 21 days to less than seven days by the end of 2026, as well as position Nigerian ports among the top three most potent trade corridors in Africa.
The Vice President, however, expressed dismay over cargo dwell time at Nigeria’s major ports, which he said ‘currently averages between 18 to 21 days,’ compared to Ghana and Cotonou, Benin Republic, where it takes five to seven days and just four days respectively. ‘The cost of clearing goods in Nigeria is estimated to be 30 percent higher than in many of our regional peers. Our ports record cargo dwell times 475 percent above the global average benchmark. These inefficiencies are not just statistics; they are symptoms of an economic ailment that costs us investments, drives up consumer prices, and weakens our export competitiveness. We simply cannot afford to continue down this path,’ he noted.
The VP expressed optimism that the Executive Order on Joint Physical Inspection, which is currently before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ‘stands as one of the boldest and most decisive steps toward reversing these trends. It marks the dawn of a new era, an era where agencies work together, where systems speak a common language, and where traders and investors can depend on predictability, transparency, and speed,’ he added. The VP demanded synergy among the NPA, Nigerian Customs Service, NAFDAC, SON, NIS, and other relevant agencies, saying the era of working in silos was over.
Earlier, the Director General of PEBEC, Princess Zahrah Audu, drew attention to the impact of inefficient port operations on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, underscoring the imperative for a collective resolve among stakeholders to improve port operations, making cargo clearance faster and more efficient. The Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, emphasized the import of synergy in revamping the nation’s ports, noting that ‘until there is collaboration and partnership, you cannot achieve efficiency at the ports’.
Highlighting steps taken by the ports authority to address bottlenecks faced by importers and exporters at the nation’s ports, the MD said the Customs and Ports Efficiency Committee established by the NPA is recording huge successes through the joint inspection and boarding by relevant agencies operating in the area. He identified adoption of technology, improvement in infrastructure, human capacity building, and equipment and tools, as areas that can be improved to enhance port efficiency and ensure that Nigeria remains competitive and relevant in the sub-region, continent, and beyond.