By Abbas Nazil
Nigeria has reduced the processing time for Certificates of Origin under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) from more than five days to 24 hours as the country intensifies efforts to make continental trade easier for local businesses.
The National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office (NACO), Mrs Patience Okala, disclosed this at the Third Quarter meeting of the AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee (CCC) held in 2026.
Okala said the improvement was made possible through the digitisation and automation of the Certificate of Origin process, covering registration, verification and certification by the Nigeria Customs Service.
She said the development would enable Nigerian businesses to access AfCFTA trade preferences more quickly while reducing delays that could hinder their ability to compete in African markets.
According to her, Nigeria has also facilitated the resolution of eight reported cases of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) since the CCC’s second-quarter meeting, as government institutions continue efforts to address practical challenges confronting businesses.
She identified access to finance, standards, logistics, market information and non-tariff barriers among the major constraints being addressed through coordinated action involving relevant government institutions and stakeholders.
Okala also disclosed that five Nigerian businesses had applied for financing under the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund following an initial engagement with eligible companies, with one female-led business progressing to the next stage with support from NACO.
She said the facility provides an opportunity for Nigerian businesses to access part of the minimum $10 million available for scaling businesses, improving production, strengthening competitiveness and expanding access to African markets.
The NACO chief said Nigeria’s efforts to implement AfCFTA had also received recognition from the AfCFTA Secretariat and other African countries, leading to a formal request for Nigeria to lead a peer-learning session on AfCFTA implementation for other African countries at the forthcoming institutional meetings in Zimbabwe.
She said the opportunity would allow Nigeria to share its implementation experience while strengthening continental business linkages, expanding market opportunities and contributing to job creation for Nigerian youths.
Okala said Nigeria had recorded other significant developments during the third quarter, including hosting AfCFTA Week, which featured the HerAfCFTA event for women-owned and women-led businesses, the 18th Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers and its related institutional meetings, as well as the second edition of the AfCFTA Digital Trade Forum in Lagos.
She said the events provided platforms for advancing discussions on women’s participation in trade, digital trade and investment facilitation while creating greater opportunities for Nigerian businesses to benefit from the continental market.
She further disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, in collaboration with NACO, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and the United Nations Development Programme, led Nigerian businesses on a Nigeria-Botswana AfCFTA Trade Mission.
According to her, the mission had already produced tangible results, including a contract secured by CSO Fashion Academy to supply 6,000 T-shirts to a Botswana business.
She added that Chumpy’s Food also introduced its instant ready-to-eat rice product during the mission and received positive interest from businesses and consumers in Botswana.
Okala said Nigeria was also making progress towards domesticating the AfCFTA Framework Agreement and its Protocols, noting that a draft Domestication Bill was before the House Committee on Commerce of the National Assembly.
She added that Nigeria had launched the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade initiative to support implementation of the Digital Trade Protocol and strengthen the country’s digital trade ecosystem.
The NACO coordinator said the progress recorded during the quarter followed the implementation of key decisions reached at the CCC’s second-quarter meeting.
She said the office had completed an Adjustment Fund briefing with Afreximbank for interested companies, activated the Digital Trade Sub-Committee for implementation of the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade initiative, issued invitations for major AfCFTA events and established a communication channel for Adjustment Fund enquiries.
She, however, noted that the development of metrics and a measurement framework for Customs AfCFTA procedures remained a third-quarter action item.
Looking ahead, Okala said Nigeria’s fourth-quarter priorities would focus on simplifying the AfCFTA framework so that businesses could better understand and take advantage of opportunities available under the continental trade agreement.
She said the government would intensify stakeholder engagement, continue its subnational engagement tour, organise webinars and peer-learning activities, and develop additional simplified AfCFTA tools for Nigerian businesses.
Okala said the ultimate objective was to increase the number of Nigerian businesses trading under AfCFTA, expand the presence of Nigerian products in African markets, strengthen connections between producers and buyers, and improve businesses’ access to finance and standards required for international competitiveness.
She urged members of the Central Coordination Committee and other stakeholders to strengthen collaboration and ensure that AfCFTA moves beyond a policy framework to become a source of concrete economic opportunities for Nigerians.
