FG to waive demurrage on containers amid early NSW operational challenges
The federal government has announced plans to waive demurrage on containers affected by initial operational glitches on the National Single Window (NSW) platform. The initiative aims to ease cost pressures
- By Afiong Edemumoh
The federal government has announced plans to waive demurrage on containers affected by initial operational glitches on the National Single Window (NSW) platform. The initiative aims to ease cost pressures on importers and accelerate cargo clearance to as fast as three to four days.
The announcement came during a joint assessment visit to the NSW office in Apapa, Lagos, by the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
The visit highlighted efforts to manage short-term disruptions while driving long-term efficiency in the nation’s port and trade system.
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NRS Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, said the government would collaborate with terminal operators and other stakeholders to reduce the financial burden on traders affected during the transition period. “This is a special period. We will engage terminal operators and relevant stakeholders to ensure that demurrage charges are waived on affected containers,” he stated.
Adedeji described the NSW as a key reform to lower the cost of doing business at the ports. He noted that transitional delays were largely due to the migration from legacy systems, affecting only a small portion of transactions.
“When you have people who have a delay, it is a certain percentage of the overall; some are smooth. The reason for that is the migration from the old system. Imagine when you have the master manifest, you’ve shipped one in the old system, and the other one is here,” he explained.
He, however, emphasised that the platform had already simplified documentation processes, reducing multiple submission points into a single interface, a development expected to significantly cut transaction costs over time.
“When you have a project of this magnitude, you definitely experience hitches. But if you look at where we’re coming from, there cannot be demoralising. Instead of submitting cargo documents in 10 to 15 places, stakeholders are now submitting them in one place. And even if you have a delay, it is far, far less than going to seven places,” he said.
Also speaking, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, described the visit as a strategic performance review of the system, stressing that the NSW remains central to Nigeria’s ambition of building a globally competitive trade environment.
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“We are here to see what progress we’ve recorded, what challenges there have been, and what we do moving forward to ensure that we get over those challenges,” he said.
Reaffirming the long-term economic impact of the platform, Adeniyi added, “National Single Window is here to stay. It will revolutionise the trading environment for good. It will definitely deliver benefits to the Nigerian economy, to make our trade environment more competitive. It will increase trade facilitation, no doubt about that. Of course, it will impact our economy.”
He disclosed that early operational bottlenecks, including manifest upload issues involving DHL and some shipping companies, had already been resolved, while stakeholder training and system optimisation efforts were ongoing.
“We’ve been experiencing those glitches, and we’ve been working together as a team under the National Single Window to confront those challenges and to ensure that we get over them and we move on. Initially, we had issues with uploading manifests from DHL. We got over that. We had issues with the shipping company. We got over that. Training is going on. There has been stakeholder acceptance and buy-in by all of them. You could see here that they are also undergoing those training programmes,” he said.
On the broader reform outlook, PEBEC Director-General Zahrah Mustapha Audu positioned the NSW as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s ease-of-doing-business drive, noting that digital trade platforms are essential to aligning the country with global best practices.
“Yes, we will have teething problems because it's software, but something noteworthy is the fact that technology is constantly evolving. So, as such, it’s good for us to get on board and to move with the trends. I see this as definitely progress for Nigeria,” she said.
She expressed optimism that the system could significantly outperform the government’s initial cargo dwell time target of under seven days, projecting even faster turnaround times if implementation momentum is sustained.
“We started 2026 with the vision of reducing cargo dwell time to less than seven days. At this point, I’m becoming very optimistic because we’re in April. The system has been deployed. So hopefully, maybe we can even reduce it to three to four days, who knows, with the right political will, with the right determination, as well as cooperation from all the sister agencies who are involved in this process,” Audu said.
