The Office of the United States Trade Representative said the level corruption and lack of transparency in Nigeria was a major barrier to trade and investment with the country.
According to its 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said this development was of major concern to US U.S. companies.
“U.S. firms experience difficulties in day-to-day operations as a result of inappropriate demands from officials for ‘facilitative’ payments.
“Efforts to strengthen anticorruption measures have been hampered by inter-ministerial infighting and partisan politics.
“Questions also remain regarding the Nigerian justice system’s capacity to achieve convictions and appropriate sentencing for corruption-related crimes.”
It also faulted Nigeria for the continued delay in approving import permits for American agricultural products, describing the situation as a longstanding trade barrier that has hindered access to the Nigerian market.
It said that despite repeated efforts to secure market access, Nigeria had not acted on several pending requests concerning food and agricultural imports from the US.
The US National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers stated, “Since 2019, the United States has sought to negotiate import permits for the export of several categories of US food and agricultural products. Nigeria has been slow to approve these requests.” Festival, Nigeria, Ghana facing brain drain, others
The USTR noted that Nigeria’s weak capacity to review certificates, inspect goods, and conduct testing had contributed to long clearance delays, forcing many traders to rely on informal channels.
It also criticised Nigeria’s lack of consistency in applying sanitary and phytosanitary rules, saying this had created confusion among exporters.
“Nigeria is not consistent in the implementation of technical regulations and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, which can create confusion and undermine compliance,” it said.
The US government also took issue with Nigeria’s complex and restrictive import regime. It noted that while the country’s average Most-Favoured Nation applied tariff rate stood at 12 per cent in 2023, agricultural products attracted 15.9 per cent, and non-agricultural goods 11.4 per cent.
The report added that Nigeria imposes several supplementary charges that significantly raise the effective rate paid by importers.
“Nigeria maintains a combined duty plus other associated import fees of 50 per cent or more on 79 tariff lines. These include 17 tariff lines on which the combined duty plus other associated import fees reach or surpass the 70 per cent limit set by ECOWAS,” the report said.
