Making African Trade Easier and Faster

Making African Trade Easier and Faster

Africa trades with itself at just 16–18%, against 59% in Asia and 68% in Europe.

Tariffs are not the real obstacle. It is the everyday friction: excessive paperwork, slow clearance, unclear rules of origin, and agencies with weak synergy.

Yet the solution is proven. Kenya cut air-freight clearance from two days to a few hours. Rwanda went from 11 days to under one. The question is not whether it is possible, but what it takes to make it the norm under AfCFTA.

Africa International Trade & Commerce Research invites you to Making African Trade Easier & Faster, a Multi-Stakeholder Policy Webinar bringing together policymakers, regulators, the private sector and development partners to move from diagnosis to action.

We will dig into:

• Customs modernisation: B’Odogwu, the AEO programme and the National Single Window
• Cutting documentation burdens and avoidable delays
• Rules of origin, standards and inspection bottlenecks
• Including small-scale and women cross-border traders

Objectives

• Examine why Nigeria’s ongoing reforms (B’Odogwu, the AEO programme and the planned National Single Window) have not yet produced globally competitive clearance times, drawing on the Nigeria Customs Service’s 2026 Time Release Study.
• Compare Nigeria’s customs, documentation and standards practices with selected African peers, and identify practical, sequenced reform priorities.
• Build shared understanding of the rules-of-origin, standards and inspection bottlenecks limiting Nigerian traders’ use of AfCFTA preferences.
• Generate actionable, multi-stakeholder recommendations for accelerating the National Single Window and reducing the documentation burden on importers, exporters and small-scale cross-border traders.

Key themes

1. Customs Modernisation and Digital Trade Systems
2. Documentation Burden and Time Release
3. Rules of Origin and AfCFTA Utilisation
4. Standards, Testing and Inspections
5. The National Single Window
6. Inclusion of Small-Scale and Informal Cross-Border Traders

Who should attend

• Policymakers and regulators, including the Nigeria Customs Service, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, NAFDAC, SON and NEPC
• The AfCFTA Secretariat and regional and continental trade institutions
• Development partners and funders, including TradeMark Africa, GIZ, the World Bank, FCDO/NEST and AfrIPI/EUIPO
• Freight forwarders, clearing and forwarding agents, exporters, and MSME and trader associations
• Researchers, academics and civil society organisations

REGISTER HERE

Expected outcomes

• Stakeholder consensus on priority, sequenced reforms for customs modernisation and the National Single Window
• A concise set of policy recommendations for the Nigeria Customs Service, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and AfCFTA-focused institutions
• Stronger dialogue between public agencies, the private sector and development partners on trade facilitation investment
• A contribution to Nigeria’s competitiveness under AfCFTA

We will be expecting you!