Customs Targets Losses in Nigeria’s ₦200bn Onion Export Trade

News in Brief:

— The Nigeria Customs Service is developing uniform procedures for onion exports across designated land borders.

— It will focus on documentation, quality control and agency collaborations to reduce losses in the ₦200 billion industry.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is developing uniform procedures for onion exports across designated land borders to reduce trade delays and strengthen the country’s position in the West African market.

This initiative targets an onion trade valued at more than ₦200 billion annually, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance. It follows a request by Aliyu Maitasamu Isah, president of the Regional Observatory of the Onion Sector in West and Central Africa (ORO/WCA), for a standardised export process across Nigerian borders.

Customs Target Smoother Export Procedures

Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Inspection and Investigation, Timi Bomodi, who represented Comptroller-General Adewale Adeniyi at a meeting in Abuja, said onions were highly perishable and vulnerable to damage during transit.

He said prolonged border delays could cause significant losses for farmers and traders, stressing that trade facilitation remained a key responsibility of the Service.

Bomodi said the proposed framework would support the movement of onions from producing states, including Kebbi, Sokoto and Kano, to designated exit borders. He added that Nigerian onions were traded across the ECOWAS sub-region, with markets including Ghana and Mali. The sector presents an opportunity to expand agricultural exports and foreign exchange earnings.

The Customs official said effective export procedures would require proper documentation, standardisation and quality control to meet international requirements on pesticide and herbicide residues, packaging and product sizing.

He said the NCS works with agencies including Plant Quarantine and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to ensure export products meet applicable requirements, including phytosanitary certification.