Only 51 firms get Customs AEO certification as applications see 26% success rate

Just 51 companies have been fully certified under the Nigeria Customs Service’s Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) since the programme launched in February 2025, according to official figures.

Out of 584 applications submitted before the January 31, 2026, deadline, only 154 firms have yet cleared the Customs validation stage, a success rate of roughly 26 percent, Abdullahi Maiwada, national public relations officer of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), told BusinessDay. Only those validated can move on to full certification.

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The figures reflect applications processed so far in what Customs called “a continuous process.”

Aside from the 51 fully certified operators, another 45 firms have been granted “provisional certification.” Maiwada said these companies have three months to “perfect gaps” identified during validation.

Firms that fail to close those gaps will be shifted into a six-month Compliance Improvement Programme before they can reapply.

The low validation rate signals that many firms still struggle to meet the programme’s detailed documentation, financial solvency, and security criteria.

AEO, established under the NCS Act of 2023 to replace the obsolete Fast-Track Scheme, rewards compliant traders with faster clearance, reduced inspections, pre-arrival processing, and other facilitation benefits designed to ease the burden of cross-border trade.

“AEO is the best thing that can happen to this sector, but the process of validation is very cumbersome,” said Sulaiman Ayokunle, a clearing agent and industry expert who consulted for more than 10 importers.

After the self-assessment stage, he said Customs teams typically spend a minimum of seven to eight hours on-site during inspections, assessing factories and offices with specialists ranging from accountants and ICT experts to engineers, security officers and lawyers.

Once operators were validated, they either get the ‘AEO Simplified’ Certification, which grants privileges like priority lanes and inspection minimisation for three years, or the ‘AEO Security’, which adds enhanced supply-chain safeguards and mutual recognition potential with other customs administrations for up to five years, a stage Ayokunle said might not yet have been attained by any operator.

Read also: Nigeria Customs posts record N7.2trn revenue in 2025 on tighter controls

The entire process until certification typically takes up to two months. “It’s very rigorous,” he said. Out of 12 applications he witnessed, only five were validated.

The NCS said the scheme was open to importers, exporters, freight forwarders, and transport providers. Some industry players said the programme is primarily targeted at bona fide manufacturers importing raw materials and machinery.

Certified companies can retain their status, with renewals required every three to five years, depending on the certification category.