SONCAP and the National Single Window for importers
What SONCAP is for, what moving it and import permits to Nigeria's National Single Window means for importers, and how to keep the paperwork and costs.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Logistics businesses in Nigeria
For an importer bringing regulated products into Nigeria, the conformity paperwork can hold up a shipment as surely as an unpaid duty. A container of electrical fittings that reaches Lagos without the right SONCAP documents does not move, and every extra day at the terminal costs money.
The process is also changing. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has announced that SONCAP and import permit processes are moving to the National Single Window, and port processes more broadly are going digital. This article explains what SONCAP is meant to achieve, what the move means in practice, and how an importer or clearing agent can keep the documents and the costs under control while the systems change around them.
What SONCAP is for
SON says its SONCAP programme exists to ensure that products imported into Nigeria are safe and that import conditions have been met. That two-part purpose is worth holding on to. SONCAP is not just a fee or a stamp; it is the mechanism by which SON satisfies itself, before goods are cleared, that they meet the standards and conditions that apply to them.
What exactly a given product needs, which documents must be obtained before shipment and which after arrival, depends on the product and on SON's current requirements. Those details change, and the safest course is to read them on SON's own site before each new product line is ordered, rather than relying on what worked for the last consignment.
The move to the National Single Window
SON has announced the mandatory migration of SONCAP and import permit processes to the National Single Window (NSW) platform. "Mandatory" is the word to notice: once the migration applies to your products, the old route is no longer an option.
For an importer, that raises practical questions to settle before the next order:
- Who in your business, or at your clearing agent, has access to the NSW platform and will make submissions there?
- Are the product details, supplier details and HS classifications you hold consistent with what the platform will ask for?
- How will you receive, store and later find the electronic permits and certificates it produces?
SON has also published a public notice of Bureau Veritas's voluntary withdrawal from the SONCAP scheme. If any of your conformity work was handled through Bureau Veritas, check with SON how those products are dealt with now.
Port processes going digital
The change at SON is part of a wider shift. The Nigerian Shippers' Council says it is promoting the digitalisation and automation of all port processes in Nigeria, including cargo release and manifest submission, to cut costs, reduce human contact with cargo and abolish manual documentation.
The Council also describes Inland Dry Ports: the equivalent of a seaport in the hinterland, receiving containers by rail or road from the seaport for examination and clearance by customs and other authorised agencies. They are developed on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis under public-private partnership agreements. For an importer in the north or in the middle belt, clearance closer to home may become a real option, which changes where examinations happen and where the conformity documents must be presented.
When documents go electronic, the risk shifts. Losing a paper certificate was obvious; losing track of which PDF belongs to which consignment is not. The answer is a filing discipline set up before the volume arrives.
Who does what on a regulated import
| Party | Typical role in the conformity paperwork |
|---|---|
| Importer | Knows what is being bought, holds the supplier's product information, pays the conformity and permit costs |
| Overseas supplier | Supplies product specifications and test information the importer asks for |
| Clearing agent | Makes or supports submissions, presents documents at clearance, invoices for services and disbursements |
| SON | Sets the requirements and runs SONCAP |
Agree in writing with your clearing agent which submissions they make on the NSW and which you make yourself, so nothing falls between you.
Recording conformity costs in the books
Conformity costs are part of what an imported product really costs, and they are easy to lose in a general "clearing" line. In Achekam, a Nigerian business records them as supplier bills, line by line with VAT, so the SONCAP charge, the permit fee and the agent's service fee each sit on their own line and can be posted to the right account. A bill without a purchase order waits for approval before it posts, which suits charges that arrive unannounced from an agent. Bills can then be paid in full or in parts from a chosen bank account.
Use the shipment reference, such as the bill of lading number, in each bill's description so that every cost for one container can be found together. If your agent pays duties or fees on your behalf and recharges them, how duties paid for clients are invoiced explains the agent's side of that recharge.
A workspace registered as Nigerian at sign-up takes the Nigeria pack as its default, and on activation it sets the naira and the Africa/Lagos time zone unless they are already set, so amounts and dates on these bills follow local settings.
Keeping certificates and permits where you can find them
Document Centre is a folder-based store where you can upload files or whole folders, then preview, download, rename, move, tag, archive and search them. A workable structure for imports:
- One folder per product line, holding the supplier's specifications and the conformity documents that cover that product.
- One folder per shipment, holding the permit, the shipment's conformity documents, the bill of lading and the agent's invoices.
- Tags for the product's HS code and the year, so a query from SON or customs can be answered from a search.
When a document is reissued, upload it as a new version: Document Centre keeps the earlier ones. If a dispute with a shipping line follows, complaining to the Nigerian Shippers' Council covers what the Council handles.
Read SON's notice first
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria's website carries its notices on SONCAP, the National Single Window migration and the scheme's providers. Read the current notice for your products before you place the next order, and set up the shipment folders before the documents start arriving.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
