Single Window begins phase two testing next week — FG

The Federal Government will begin testing the second phase of the National Single Window project next week as it moves to streamline export procedures, following the processing of 156,026 import licences and permits through the platform since its launch in March.

The Project Coordinator of the National Single Window, Tola Fakolade, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, saying the government was working towards launching the first batch of agencies under the second phase before the end of the year.

The second phase will focus on exports, including the centralised processing of export licences, permits and certificates, export-related forms required by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and applications for import duty exemption certificates.

Fakolade said the project team had completed the initial work of reviewing existing processes, identifying gaps and developing streamlined procedures, with user acceptance testing scheduled to begin next week.

“We are starting our user acceptance testing for phase two next week, which is where we are actually bringing a sample of these agencies and some of our users to come and test the processes that have been customised and developed on the Single Window platform,” he said.

He explained that the testing would enable participating agencies and users to provide feedback and recommend improvements before the system was launched.

“After that, we’ll do training, and then we’ll also work hard as a team to ensure that we deliver around the timeline and the mandate that we’ve been given,” Fakolade added.

The National Single Window is a centralised electronic trade platform designed to bring government agencies involved in international trade onto one system. It is intended to simplify import and export procedures, reduce duplication, improve transparency and help position Nigeria as a regional trading hub.

President Bola Tinubu inaugurated the project on 16 April, 2024, while its first phase went live on 27 March, 2026.

Providing an update on the first phase, Fakolade said the platform had registered 12,112 importers and agents, while more than 8,000 users had received training. It had also recorded 99.98 per cent uptime, indicating a high level of system availability.

The first phase automated the submission, processing and approval of licences, permits and certificates issued by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service.

The platform also handles payments for the relevant permits and certificates, as well as air and sea cargo manifests submitted by airlines and shipping lines, excluding oil and gas-related operations.

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According to the project coordinator, the platform had processed 104,956 documents for SON and 50,622 for NAFDAC, while 398 documents had been processed for NAQS. The figures formed part of the 156,026 licences and permits recorded since the launch.

Fakolade said the number of licences and permits issued by SON and NAFDAC had increased by between 20 and 30 per cent compared with the corresponding period before the platform was introduced.

“The number of licences and permits that have been issued compared to the same period last year has gone up between 20 to 30 per cent. So, for us, that gives us the assurance that the Single Window is delivering, which is blocking some of the loopholes that existed before and really driving compliance in the issuance of licences and permits,” he said.

He said the increase suggested that the platform was improving compliance by making it easier to process and monitor regulatory approvals.

However, Fakolade acknowledged that the introduction of the system initially presented challenges, particularly because some users were unfamiliar with the revised procedures.

He said the project team had expanded stakeholder engagements and was using feedback from importers, clearing agents and other users to improve the platform.

“By the time we launched in March, we had trained about 5,000 people, but I think the lesson we’ve learned there is that Nigeria is a big country. There are a lot of importers in the country, so we need to extend the reach of our training,” he said.

He added that technical issues involving data migration and system integration had also arisen during the transition but had been addressed.

The second phase will be implemented in two batches. The first, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026, will involve the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment through the Federal Produce Inspection Service and Registered Exporter System, SON, NAFDAC and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture.

The second batch, scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, will involve the CBN, Nigeria Customs Service, NAQS, the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The project’s third phase is scheduled for the second half of 2027. It will cover customs declaration submissions, Form M applications and approvals, oil and gas processes, advanced risk analytics and trade visualisation systems.