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FG Targets November for ‘One Portal’ Export System to Cut Bureaucracy
The Federal Government has directed ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to complete the second phase of the National Single Window by November 2026, as part of efforts to eliminate regulatory and bureaucratic barriers slowing Nigerian exports.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, announced the deadline during a stakeholder engagement in Abuja. She said Phase 2 must address fragmentation, duplication and weak coordination among agencies. “At the close of this engagement, we must know what we own in the Phase 2 journey with a firm delivery date which is the end of November 2026,” she stated.
The National Single Window, launched in March, has processed over 124,614 licences and permits, registered 11,096 importers and agents, trained 8,000 users, and facilitated ₦12.59bn in regulatory payments. Oduwole stressed that effectiveness would be judged by whether businesses experience faster, simpler and more predictable export procedures.
She recalled that exporters identified seven major constraints in 2024, most linked to duplication and poor coordination. “Information already held by the government should not be requested repeatedly…They should experience the Nigerian government as one government,” she said.
Figures showed SON processed 85,000 documents worth ₦9.95bn, while NAFDAC handled 38,985 documents worth ₦2.59bn. Oduwole said Phase 2 would integrate permits, certificates, inspections and payments into “one portal, one submission and one coordinated process.”
National Revenue Service Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, urged strict compliance with timelines, while National Single Window Secretariat Director, Tola Fakolade, said SON, NAFDAC, Customs, Quarantine Service and NESREA had been fully onboarded. He added that 25 of 27 airlines and 48 of 88 shipping lines had joined the platform.
The government said the second phase would focus on exports, aiming to reduce duplicate documentation, shorten processing times and improve predictability for businesses, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s target of building a $1tn economy by 2030.
