Nigeria is gearing up to roll out its groundbreaking National Single Window digital trade platform on March 27, creating a unified electronic system that connects every government agency and stakeholder involved in import and export activities.
The platform, which serves as the central hub for all trade-related processes, will be hosted under the Nigeria Revenue Service.
Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila disclosed the launch timeline on Wednesday while addressing a high-level stakeholders’ gathering at the State House in Abuja, where key ministers, agency heads and senior officials converged to assess its readiness.
In a statement issued by Presidential Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga and sent to Persecondnews on Thursday, Gbajabiamila hailed the development as a “monumental” step toward overhauling the nation’s trade landscape.
“He traced the project’s origins to President Bola Tinubu’s vision nearly two years ago, describing it as a comprehensive fiscal overhaul designed to simplify procedures, boost operational efficiency and sharpen Nigeria’s global edge in commerce.
“We are about to launch yet another reform, fiscal reform by this administration, which in its nature will be very transformational,” Gbajabiamila said.
“As the name suggests, it is a single national window as opposed to multiple single windows.
“This meeting is to review the progress we have made and get your commitment that we will manage this transition smoothly.”
National Single Window Coordinator Tola Fakolade called on all participating bodies to ramp up their backing during the remaining 23 days before the official debut, stressing that the initial rollout will cover digital handling of import permits, fully electronic cargo manifest filings and the activation of a unified risk assessment framework.
He confirmed that countrywide training sessions for users are already in full swing, with trial operations scheduled to commence shortly to guarantee a seamless transition.
Fakolade explained that cargo manifests will be filed online and instantly routed to the appropriate authorities without any manual handling.
“The support that we need from each of the agencies is even more critical now. Documents will be submitted once and shared with all relevant agencies without duplication,” he said.
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance Wale Edun reiterated his ministry’s full backing for the initiative, while Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole labelled it a cornerstone of the government’s broader reform drive.
She noted that the platform is long overdue and vowed to work closely with all partners over the coming three weeks to educate traders, importers and exporters on the new system.
On his part, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso pledged the bank’s unwavering assistance, highlighting the urgency of bridging Nigeria’s trade facilitation shortfall compared with peer nations.
In his remarks, Nigeria Revenue Service Chairman Zacch Adedeji urged intensified collaboration and firm political resolve to deliver a flawless execution, and specifically suggested that the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment should spearhead the final 23-day countdown to launch.
For the Nigeria Customs Service Comptroller-General, Bashir Adeniyi, the project a landmark achievement in the country’s trade history and promised sustained direct dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure its success.
Following deliberations, the meeting formally assigned the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment to oversee the concluding implementation stage leading up to the March 27 rollout.
Representatives from the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigerian Ports Authority, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency were also present at the session.
In stark contrast to Nigeria’s emerging system, Singapore’s TradeNet — the world’s very first national single window — has been running successfully since 1 January 1989 and remains the global gold standard after nearly four decades of continuous refinement.
TradeNet integrates requirements from more than 35 regulatory agencies into a single electronic submission point, automatically processes roughly 9–10 million permits annually, and delivers approvals for 99 percent of transactions within 10 minutes — slashing what once took days or weeks into near-instant results while generating enormous cost savings estimated at around US$1 billion yearly for traders.
While Nigeria’s NSW is still in its infancy and will roll out in phases — with full customs-declaration integration targeted for later stages — its core design of single submission, automatic data sharing and centralised risk management directly echoes the principles that propelled Singapore’s TradeNet from a pioneering experiment into a proven engine of national competitiveness.
Officials hope the new platform will dramatically compress Nigeria’s current multi-week clearance times and position the country as a more efficient regional trade hub.
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