8 Airlines Join Single Window Platform As Licence, Permit Applications Hit 39,039

The National Single Window (NSW) Secretariat has disclosed that eight airlines and courier operators have now been onboarded onto its Air Cargo Manifest Module, even as the platform recorded 39,039 applications for licences, certificates, permits and other trade-related documents within eight weeks of its phase one deployment.

The director of the NSW Secretariat, Tola Fakolade, who made this known in Lagos at the weekend during a briefing with maritime journalists, said the platform has continued to record growing adoption since its March 2026 go-live.

According to him, the applications submitted through the platform indicate increasing reliance on the system for the processing of Licences, Certificates, Permits and Other Documents (LPCOs) across relevant regulatory agencies.

“Over the last eight weeks since go-live, approximately 39,039 LPCO applications have been submitted through the platform. This indicates growing reliance on the NSW for the submission and processing of trade-related licences, permits, certificates, and other documents,” Fakolade said.

A breakdown of applications showed that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) accounted for the largest share, with 30,937 submissions, followed by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) with 7,942 applications. The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) recorded 138 applications, while the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) submitted 22.

Fakolade also revealed that 7,567 users have been registered on the platform within the period, including importers, exporters, licensed customs agents, clearing and forwarding agents, and freight forwarders.

Of this figure, 6,935 were importers, 359 clearing and forwarding agents, 104 freight forwarders, and 169 licensed customs agents.

On the Air Cargo Manifest Module, he said it went live on 27 March 2026 with DHL as the pilot airline. Since then, 136 manifests have been processed, with eight airlines and courier operators currently active on the system.

He added that preparatory and stakeholder training sessions have also been conducted across Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano to improve adoption and capacity.

“End-user training for private stakeholders is still ongoing to ensure that new users continue to receive the guidance required to fully understand the NSW platform and carry out their respective activities effectively,” he said.

Fakolade noted that 2,990 private-sector stakeholders have been trained, covering importers, exporters, freight forwarders and customs agents, while 579 representatives from government agencies were also trained. These include officials from SON, NAFDAC, NESREA and NAQS, among others.

He said the second phase of the rollout is expected to commence in June, with plans to expand the manifest system to all airlines and shipping lines to enable full digital submission of cargo manifests through the platform.

However, Fakolade acknowledged ongoing compliance challenges, disclosing that stakeholder compliance currently stands at about 30 per cent, while over 70 per cent remain non-compliant and are attempting to bypass the system.

“They decide to pay less for permits or bring the wrong documents in order to circumvent the system. If you have this level of non-compliance and you bring a new system that is actually forcing them to comply, they would start kicking back,” he said.

He added that earlier concerns raised around SON and NAFDAC operations on the platform had been addressed, attributing initial challenges to learning curves and data migration issues, which have now been resolved.