Stakeholders in the South-South and South-East have Expressed Support for the National Single Window project, pledging compliance going forward
By Jude Nzennaya, Port Harcourt
The Federal Government’s National Single Window (NSW) Project has received significant support from stakeholders in the South-South and South-East regions of the country.
At a meeting held on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and jointly organized by the National Single Window Project, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), they expressed confidence in the project’s ability to increase gains derivable from legitimate trade.
Speaking at the meeting, National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Emenike Nwokeoji, commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold step.
According to him, Nigeria must not be left behind at a time innovation, transparency and simplification of processes have become commonplace in the global trading community
Other speakers at the event, who said the NSW was overdue, commended the project implementation office for their consistency in educating all concerned by coming to the zone to meet and answer questions relating to the project and its impact on national security and economy.
The Director of National Single Window (NSW) Project, Tola Fakolade described it as a legacy programme of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s quest for modalities necessary for Nigeria to attain a $1 trillion economy by the year 2030 in line with world economic growth projection for countries.
Fakolade added that the National Single Window (NSW) simply refers to a platform that will harmonize and streamline trade processes and procedures into a one stop shop platform.
According to him, the platform will house all government related revenue collection agencies and Importers and exporters as well as other regulatory agencies of Government a single access for declarations.
During an exhaustive question and answer session, Fakolade said the National Single Window (NSW) is configured in a way to accommodate all critical stakeholders involved in the trade value chain to the extent of visibility and interoperability where no stakeholder will operate in isolation or be excluded.
Fakolade applauded the efforts of the NCS, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for topping the chat and others for their pioneering roles in digitization of trade processes.
He commended the high level of support and cooperation the NCS has been offering since the inauguration of the Project Secretariat, while Head of the National Single Window (NSW) secretariat assured the stakeholders of the Federal Government’s full commitment towards deploying the project to enable Nigeria to become a new destination for business.
Kingsley Igwe, Registrar of the CRFFN who delivered the keynote called for stronger dedication by prospective users of the platform as the project office prepares for on-boarding training to acquaint them with the operation of the system.
In his address, the Representative of the CGC and Zonal Coordinator for Zone C ACG Mohammed Kamal called on licensed customs agents and other stakeholders to fully integrate into the National Single Window (NSW) for its benefits like faster clearance time and eradicate delays hitherto caused by multiple agencies process, among others.
On his part, Chairman National Association of Government Approved Forwarders (NAGAF), Onne Seaport chapter, Dr. Oke Okechukwu Answlem, said the single window of the federal government is a welcome idea and we are all going to embrace it as it is going to capture all the maritime trade in one entrance which is going to promote transparency and sanitize the maritime industry.
On the contrary, Prince Comrade Obinna Ugochukwu, Chairman Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Onne seaport chapter (ARFF) said the Single Window project will not facilitate trade.
“My understanding of single window is that the federal government want to control all the business transactions in the country and give out percentage to various stakeholders that participated which will work but may not facilitate trade and my reason is simple, having made your payments of all duties through the central point “Single Window” one still need to go to other agencies like SON, NAFDAC, NISREA and others to clear himself then how is it helping trade, ordinarily it should be after making your payment through the single window your goods are released and you take delivery.
“Well, we will support the policy as stakeholders have already keyed in. My concern is that all the policies are almost the same as the question remains who is presenting and who is implementing this project as all of it is serving the same purpose,” he said.
