Nigeria is targeting cutting port delays, reducing costs, and improving efficiency in import and export processes with the National Single Window (NSW), a major digital trade reform.
The reform initiative is designed to address cargo dwell time, eliminate multiple agency visits and process duplication, and reduce human interference and operational bottlenecks.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, speaking in Lagos, explained that the initiative, alongside the upgrade of Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, represents a turning point in Nigeria’s trade and economic trajectory.
Mr Edun said that as of 2025, cargo dwell time at Nigerian ports averages between 18 and 21 days, about 475 per cent higher than the global average of four days, resulting in high costs of doing business, delays for importers and exporters, and reduced competitiveness of Nigerian goods.
According to him, the NSW and port modernisation are part of a broader economic strategy under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to strengthen macroeconomic stability, improve the ease of doing business, attract and scale investment, and achieve a 7 per cent medium-term economic growth target.
He added that the reforms demonstrate a coordinated, system-wide approach to economic transformation.
“Phase 1 of the NSW directly targets the 73 per cent transaction delay component by introducing a single digital platform for trade documentation, eliminating multiple agency visits and duplicative processes, and enabling electronic submission of Licences, Permits, and Certificates (LPCOs), digital manifest processing, centralised risk management across agencies, transparent electronic payments, faster document processing, reduced human interface and bottlenecks, and more predictable and transparent timelines,” he said.
He added that the launch of Phase 1 of the NSW coincides with last week’s deal to upgrade Apapa Port (built in 1913) and Tin Can Island Port (built in 1977), describing both as coordinated reforms designed to cut cargo dwell time, reduce trade costs, and unlock economic growth.
According to the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mrs Jumoke Oduwole, the platform is scheduled to go live on Friday and will include one shipping line and one port.
“These are the kinds of game changers in terms of trade facilitation that we need,” Oduwole said, adding that it is a priority project for an economy of Nigeria’s size that is working to emphasise trading.
Mrs Oduwole said streamlining imports and exports at the ports could have a “multiplier effect” in terms of balance of trade and foreign exchange generation.