Nigeria’s freight forwarding industry could unlock tens of trillions of naira in annual value if stakeholders align on a unified digital and reporting platform, the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Kingsley Igwe, has said.
Igwe made this call in Lagos yesterday at a stakeholders’ engagement on the National Single Window (NSW), stressing that fragmentation, weak coordination, and poor data reporting continue to erode efficiency, inflate costs, and limit the sector’s true economic potential.The engagement, organised by CRFFN in collaboration with the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) had as its theme: National Single Window Implementation: From Eliminating Fragmentation to Full Integration for Lower Trade Costs and Zero Delays in Cargo Clearance
The event, held on the eve of the first phase rollout of the National Single Window, a reform expected to reduce cargo clearance timelines from as high as 24 days to 24 hours in the medium term, brought together regulators, freight forwarders, and private sector operators to align expectations and chart a pathway for seamless trade facilitation under the Federal Government’s Marine and Blue Economy agenda
Igwe said the freight forwarding ecosystem must abandon fragmented advocacy and embrace a single, coordinated platform backed by credible data, noting that disjointed engagements with regulators have historically yielded little results.