The engagement, held in Abuja on Tuesday, outlined a framework aimed at streamlining cargo clearance for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), positioning Nigeria as a pilot hub for low-value and informal trade corridors across West Africa. NCS spokesperson Abdullahi Maiwada said the initiative is intended to facilitate efficient, transparent, and inclusive trade while aligning with national and regional trade regulations.
Caroline Niagwan, Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Tariff and Trade, emphasized the agency’s commitment to efficiency and inclusiveness. “Our goal is to make trade easier, more transparent, and inclusive for small-scale traders, while ensuring compliance with national and regional trade regulations,” she said.
AfCFTA delegation leader Pedro Estevao highlighted Nigeria’s strategic importance as the designated pilot country for the STR in West Africa. He noted that the country’s large market and trade volumes make it pivotal to the continental framework’s success. Estevao added that the initiative would facilitate the structured participation of informal traders in cross-border commerce while strengthening regional supply chains.
During the session, the NCS presented a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for STR implementation. The SOP targets informal trade, passenger baggage processing, and low-value e-commerce shipments—segments increasingly shaping maritime and land border trade. Key features include digital declaration systems, risk-based controls, and streamlined documentation designed to reduce cargo dwell time and improve compliance monitoring.
AfCFTA consultant Nabil Zibani emphasized the importance of creating accessible systems that bring MSMEs into formal trade channels. “Simplified, transparent, and accessible processes are critical to enabling small traders, including women-led businesses, to participate in regional trade,” he said.
Deliberations revealed strong alignment between Nigeria’s draft SOP and the AfCFTA STR framework, particularly in simplifying documentation, deploying digital clearance platforms, and introducing de minimis thresholds for low-value consignments. Both parties agreed to deepen technical collaboration to refine operational models, address implementation gaps, and ensure seamless integration with continental trade protocols.
For Nigeria’s maritime and logistics sector, the STR is expected to formalize a significant portion of informal cargo flows, enhance trade data visibility, and improve revenue assurance, while maintaining an enabling environment for small-scale traders.
The NCS described the engagement as a pivotal step in aligning national customs processes with AfCFTA trade architecture, reinforcing Nigeria’s role as a regional trade gateway and advancing efforts to scale intra-African trade through simplified, technology-driven systems.