As part of efforts to streamline operations and boost trade facilitation, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced plans to go fully paperless by the second quarter of this year.
The initiative aims to eliminate delays, reduce cargo dwell time, and ensure that only legitimate goods are cleared for free circulation in the country.
The announcement was made in Lagos yesterday by the Controller-General of the Service, Adewale Adeniyi, during the formal launch of the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) Initiative.
One-Stop-Shop Targets Faster Clearance
According to Adeniyi, the OSS platform is designed to achieve a 48-hour clearance window, lower compliance costs, strengthen revenue assurance, and enhance transparency. The theme of the launch was “Enhancing trade facilitation through integrated risk intervention, faster clearance process and efficient dispute resolution.”
Speaking at the event, he said the paperless initiative would start with core clearance processes, documentation, and approvals, with a full rollout expected by the end of the second quarter.
READ ALSO: Customs Seek Synergy With Nigerian Army To Boost Border Security
Adeniyi recalled last year’s launch of the Authorised Economic Operator programme and described the OSS as a reflection of the Service’s commitment, under the leadership of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to predictable, transparent, and accountable border processes that enhance investment and competitiveness.
He said the OSS represents “a smarter, technology-driven approach to cargo clearance that will enhance accountability, efficiency, transparency, and inter-agency collaboration.”
Read Also
Centralised, Technology-Driven Customs Operations
The OSS, according to Adeniyi, who was represented at the event by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Enforcement, Timi Bomodi, is a central platform for intelligence gathering and operational coordination. It houses all relevant documents within NCS, enabling a more efficient and coordinated approach to customs operations, valuation, and other port activities.
“The platform brings all relevant Customs Units under one operational roof, allowing joint review, examination, and decision-making at a single point of contact,” Adeniyi said.
He assured that the OSS would eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks that often delay cargo release, ensuring that “every flagged declaration is handled transparently and collaboratively.”
The controller-general explained that delays at ports are often caused not by inspections themselves but by fragmented procedures, overlapping checks, and idle waiting times. National assessments, including Nigeria’s Trade Policy Review at the World Trade Organization and the Service’s Time Release Study, have highlighted these bottlenecks as increasing trade costs and undermining confidence.
To address these challenges, Adeniyi said, “Multiple checkpoints are collapsed into one decision space, with interventions that are collective, fully auditable, and aligned with institutional responsibility. This will reduce physical interfaces, improve processing speed, and strengthen audit controls.”
He added that the OSS centralises valuation, processing centres, intelligence, enforcement, compliance monitoring, and gate operations into a single digital workflow. Digital tracking, automated alerts, joint inspections, and shared dashboards replace fragmented interventions, making all actions traceable, accountable, and coordinated.
The paperless initiative is expected to revolutionise cargo handling at Nigeria’s ports and significantly enhance trade efficiency.
