The Nigeria National Single Window (NSW) will commence its second Phase in November, expanding to export processes and permits for goods in free trade zones.
The Director of Operations of NSW, Mr Peter Ekunkoya, disclosed this during an online engagement with free trade zone operators on Tuesday in Lagos.
Ekunkoya said that the phase 2 would cover sea manifest submissions, non-oil export licences, import and export permits for free zones, performance monitoring dashboards and operational reports.
He said that NSW secretariat would complete gap analysis and future-state export process design for Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), and other export MDAs in August.
According to him, system customisation is scheduled for September, user acceptance testing for October, and end-user training for November before pilot and full operation.
A major Phase 2 component is integrating free trade zones with Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) One-Stop Shop (OSS) for electronic exchange of permits.
Meanwhile, the NSW Director-General, Mr Tola Fakolade, said that the first Phase of the NSW went live on March 27, to consolidate trade-related government processes on one digital platform.
Fakolade said the objective was to reduce duplication in issuance of permits and approvals, and improve efficiency for importers, agents and regulatory agencies.
He said that since the launch of NSW, the platform had processed N11.27 billion in payments and 114,112 licences and permits, with 10,818 importers and agents registered.
“Five agencies are fully integrated; Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
“Others are Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
“Importers, freight forwarders and clearing agents have also achieved full platform usage compliance since the March rollout,” he said.
Fakolade said that SON processed 78,957 documents valued at N9.02 billion, and NAFDAC processed 34,815 worth N2.20 billion.
He said that NAQS processed 38 documents worth N30 million, while NESREA processed 311 worth N10 million.
He said that customs-related transactions and documents processed by importers and freight forwarders were not assigned monetary values.
“In air cargo, 24 of 27 airlines were onboarded and 2,139 manifests transmitted through the platform.
“Shipping line adoption remains low, with 23 of 88 onboarded and 43 manifests transmitted. As of May 22, 7,567 users were registered.
“Challenges in Phase 1 included data integration delays for NCS, NAFDAC and SON,” he said.
To address this, he said that the secretariat introduced manual Licences, Permits and Certificates (LPCO) uploads, SON Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) defaults, and licence extensions.
He said that lessons from Phase 1 would shape Phase 2, with focus on change management, wider training, stronger data governance and more customs support centres.
