Trade and logistics experts have called on the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) to establish a port single window with ecosystem-wide visibility to improve regulatory control and facilitate more efficient trade.
The experts made the call in Lagos during an executive course organised by the International Maritime Institute of Nigeria (IMION), themed “Logistics and Trade Facilitation for Blue Economy Growth.”
Speaking on trade facilitation, the Director-General of the African Centre for Supply Chain Management, Dr Obiora Madu, said the proposed single window should connect traders, regulators, customs, the port community, terminals, transport operators and markets in a seamless process.
Madu noted that while regulatory agencies operating at the ports might each have legitimate mandates, poor coordination could result in duplication, conflicting requirements, repeated inspections, multiple data requests and unclear accountability.
He warned that excessive regulatory friction could lead to delays and increased costs for businesses.
The supply chain expert urged NPERA to demand clarity whenever conflicting mandates arise, stressing that legitimate mandates could produce poor outcomes when they were not properly coordinated.
He advocated a system based on a single data submission, one inspection where necessary, a streamlined payment process, a clear decision trail and an effective accountability framework.
Madu also called for proper key performance indicators for government agencies and traders, arguing that the experience of businesses and other users should remain central to the design of the system.
He said trade procedures should be simplified through reduced documentation, greater predictability and transparency, digitisation and faster cargo release processes.
According to him, businesses should be able to easily determine what is required, which agency requires it, the cost involved, how long the process should take, what happens when requirements change and where decisions can be challenged.
Madu further advocated greater use of technology, intelligence and risk management in modern port inspections.
He said such an approach would facilitate faster inspections, strengthen security, improve transparency, reduce fiscal handling and allow authorities to better target high-risk transactions.
“Technology should reduce friction, not digitise bureaucracy,” he said, warning against using technology merely to reproduce existing bureaucratic processes electronically.
Madu argued that effective trade facilitation was not about reducing regulatory control but about making control smarter and more efficient.
He said excessive controls could create delays, increase costs and provide opportunities for corruption, while modern trade facilitation should focus on achieving better control rather than simply increasing the number of checks, documents or agencies involved.
He also identified compliance as a critical component of trade facilitation, noting that incomplete or non-compliant documentation could become a major obstacle to the smooth movement of goods.
Madu stressed that infrastructure alone was not enough to guarantee efficient trade.
He explained that a port could have modern facilities, good roads, rail connections and available vessels, but value would still be lost if trade procedures remained slow, fragmented and unpredictable.
“Infrastructure moves goods, but trade facilitation moves trade,” he said.
According to him, trade facilitation is fundamentally about making legitimate trade faster, cheaper, simpler, more predictable and more transparent without compromising established rules.
Madu identified inadequate collaboration among public-sector agencies as one of the challenges affecting trade facilitation in Nigeria.
He said technology had made risk management easier, but documentation problems, multiple inspections, uncertainty, overlapping agencies and informal costs continued to increase the cost of doing business.
He added that improved trade facilitation could enhance business activity, reduce transaction costs, improve cash flow, increase competitiveness, attract trade and investment and ultimately contribute to economic growth.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the Africa Green Economy and Sustainability Initiative, Dr Eugene Itua, said sustainability and risk management were central to the growth of the blue economy.
Itua noted that effective logistics systems must balance economic efficiency with environmental protection and social equity to ensure sustainable development.
