The Federal Government has commenced the User Acceptance Testing phase of the National Single Window initiative with its first group of participating stakeholders.
The exercise marks a major milestone toward making the unified, technology-driven trade platform fully operational by March 2026. According to a statement from technology vendor CrimsonLogic, agencies and stakeholders were taken through the onboarding process, navigation features and operational framework designed to simplify the nation’s trade procedures.
The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, visited the testing grounds to assess the progress recorded so far. They inspected the ongoing sessions and engaged directly with representatives of the participating organisations to understand their experience with the platform.
Key trade and regulatory bodies were part of the inaugural session, including the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, the Nigeria Customs Service and the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria. Importers, exporters, clearing agents and freight forwarders also participated in the testing.
The engagement offered all participating bodies the opportunity to test system functionalities, validate workflows and align their expectations ahead of the official deployment. The start of testing pushes Nigeria closer to achieving a fully operational National Single Window, an initiative aimed at harmonising documentation, lowering trade costs and eliminating duplication of processes across ministries and agencies.
During the visit, Edun and Adedeji expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far and commended the collaboration among relevant ministries, departments and agencies. They emphasised the Federal Government’s commitment to establishing a modern, transparent and technology-driven trade environment capable of boosting economic efficiency nationwide.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Customs Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade Summit on Monday, reaffirmed that the platform would go live in March 2026. He said the initiative would reduce cargo clearance timelines from 21 days to fewer than seven, aligning Nigeria with AfCFTA’s digital trade requirements. Stakeholders also highlighted its economic advantages, including reducing logistics costs by up to 30 percent, improving competitiveness and supporting manufacturers, SMEs and freight forwarders through faster, digitally tracked processes.
