President Tinubu eyes $4bn annual savings from reduced bureaucracies

President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday said Nigeria stands to benefit about $2.7bn annually by implementing the Single Window Project.

He also noted that the project will save the country at least $4bn lost annually to complex bureaucracies and corruption hindering its trade efficiency.

Tinubu revealed this when he inaugurated a new digital trade compliance initiative, code-named the National Single Window project at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

The Single Window project is a cross-government website which will facilitate trade by offering a single portal for Nigerian and international trade actors to access a full range of resources and standardised services from different Nigerian agencies.

The initiative, Tinubu said, would expedite cargo movement and optimise inter-African trade, thereby facilitating $2.7bn worth of annual paperless trade.

While noting that the economy can no longer stomach $4bn annual losses, the Nigerian leader directed the Presidential Steering Committee on the National Single Window Project to “Dismantle all block webs” in the way of trade efficiency.

This way, Nigeria would join the ranks of Singapore, Korea, Kenya and Saudi Arabia which have experienced significant improvement in trade efficiency after implementing a single window system, the president argued.