The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has launched a new One-Stop-Shop (OSS) platform aimed at streamlining cargo clearance, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, and strengthening transparency in border management.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ engagement held at the Marriott Hotel in Lagos on Friday, Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, said the initiative represents a decisive step toward coordinated, technology-driven reforms designed to improve Nigeria’s trade environment.
Adeniyi noted that delays, overlapping checks, and fragmented procedures have long increased the cost of doing business in the country, weakening investor confidence and slowing economic growth. According to him, national assessments and recent studies revealed that while physical inspections often take only a few hours, consignments frequently remain idle for several days due to uncoordinated processes.
The OSS platform is structured as a unified operational framework that centralises risk interventions into a coordinated digital and physical system. It integrates valuation, intelligence, enforcement, compliance monitoring, and gate operations into a single workflow supported by digital tracking and automated alerts.
The Customs boss explained that the reform is anchored on broader business environment initiatives, including Executive Order 001 and the Business Facilitation Act, both of which emphasise transparency, digitisation, and inter-agency collaboration.
Among its key targets, the platform seeks to achieve a 48-hour cargo clearance timeline by eliminating duplicated reviews and sequential inspections. It is also expected to lower compliance costs by reducing discretionary interventions, strengthen revenue assurance through improved intelligence integration, and enhance accountability via digital audit trails.
Adeniyi added that the Service is advancing toward a fully paperless customs environment, with the first phase covering core clearance, documentation, and approval processes—scheduled for rollout by the end of the second quarter of the year.
He further reaffirmed Customs’ support for the National Single Window initiative, expected to be formally launched by the end of the first quarter of 2026, noting that it will complement the OSS by extending coordination across the border management ecosystem.
The Comptroller-General stressed that efficient border processes would strengthen supply chain reliability, enhance export competitiveness, attract investment, and expand employment opportunities.
Describing the platform as a shift “from fragmented interventions to coordinated governance,” Adeniyi urged stakeholders to engage constructively and utilise the system responsibly, emphasising that facilitating legitimate trade while maintaining regulatory control remains central to the Service’s mandate.
