Port Stakeholders Throw Weight Behind National Single Window, Say Corruption Is Fighting Back

By DAPO OLAWUNI

Coming on the heels of media reports calling for the Federal Government to cancel the National Single Window, a cross-section of port stakeholders has dismissed such calls as the handiwork of corruption fighting back against a system designed to reform cargo clearance at Nigeria’s ports.

The stakeholders spoke at the 2nd National Seminar organised by the Media Anti-Corruption Initiative (MACI), themed: National Single Window: Strategies to Avert Failure, held at Rockview Hotel in Apapa on Wednesday. They argued that the glitches currently being experienced on the NSW platform are typical of any newly introduced electronic system and are being addressed in real time.

The NSW was launched on March 27, 2026 by the President Bola Tinubu administration to reduce port delays. The government has also projected that the platform will block annual revenue leakage of USD 3 billion.

Joseph Alor, a representative of Truck Transit Park Limited (TTP), said the resistance to the NSW was predictable.

“It is understandable that when anything new is introduced, there would be kickbacks, there would be those who have been benefiting for a long time from the maladministration and not well structured way of doing things,” he said.

“The truth is that whenever technology is introduced to make life better and bring orderliness into chaotic systems, those who are benefiting heavily from that disorderliness would want to kick back.

“They have their henchmen who come out with publications, who also come out with statements, but these statements when tested are not statements of facts. We have our records, we have eyewitness accounts, and we have testimonials about how much efficiency there has been,” Alor added.

He also acknowledged that global trade disruptions had affected cargo throughput and evacuation at some terminals, but assured that engagements were ongoing to improve terminal efficiency.

Superintendent of Customs (SC) JD Tomo, Public Relations Officer of the Lagos Industrial Area Command, represented the National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, at the event. He reassured stakeholders that the NSW posed no threat to the NCS’s mandate.

“Executive Order 001 is about all agencies working together to achieve one result. B’Odogwu is for customs to generate revenue and make its operations seamless. It is for us to have a real-time report of activities of our operators,” he said.

“The NSW has not come to take over customs job, the NSW is to make port procedures seamless. We don’t have any fear about the NSW. We are working on the same platform, while everyone can view transactions on the same platform at the same time.

“This would make trade faster, seamless and also promote the economy. As Nigeria Customs Service officers, we embrace the NSW. We know that the programme has come to help our job easier and faster,” Tomo stated.

Also speaking, Alhaji Hakeem Ayobiojo, Chairman of the Association of Port and Forwarding Freight Logistics Operators of Nigeria (APFFLON), Tin Can Island Port chapter, described the NSW as a generational legacy.

“This is a future legacy that the federal government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Finance, Customs and other concerned agencies are taking their time to ensure that it works. This is a legacy that all the children yet unborn are going to follow through,” he said.

Ayobiojo, however, raised concerns about entrenched practices within the industry that could undermine the platform’s success.

“My concern now is how do we guarantee the success of the NSW due to Nigerians way of doing business at the port? I am a licensed customs agent, and at the same time, am Chairman of APFFLON at Tin Can Port.

“We have a Nigerian way of taking delivery of cargoes which some of it are detrimental to the economy of Nigeria. How do we curb all these activities and practices that freight forwarders and agents do at the port so as not to sabotage the efforts so far made to ensure that the NSW comes to stay? These are part of what I want the media to help us guard against, those vices that could circumvent the success of the NSW,” Ayobiojo said.

On his part, the lead paper presenter at the event, Dr Segun Musa who is the Managing Director of Widescope Global, an international logistics firm, stated that launching Nigeria’s National Single Window is not merely a technical upgrade, but rather, it should be seen as a strategic overhaul of Nigeria’s trade ecosystem.

Dr Musa in his paper presentation said “If we get these fundamentals right, the rewards will be transformative. The World Bank finds that countries with modernized trade facilitation see trade grow much faster: efficient systems correlate with 15% higher exports and 10% more FDI. This means more jobs, investment, and prosperity for Nigeria.

“The time to act is now: let us
invest in training, integrate our policies, build robust infrastructure, digitize end-to-end, and enforce integrity. By doing so, we will ensure the Single Window is not
just launched, but launched for success”