The United States of America, USA, has said corruption and lack of transparency in tender processes are of great concern to U.S. companies, specifically expressing doubts about Nigeria’s judicial system.
The verdicts were in the latest 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, from the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The US also said that corruption remains a substantial barrier to trade and investment in Nigeria.
The report noted that “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.”
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.”
On import fees, it said: “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 Nigeria Customs Service continues to ban the import of 25 different product categories,” it added.
The affected product categories include poultry, beef, spaghetti, fruit juice in retail packs, used vehicles over 12 years old, soaps, and certain alcohols.
The report pointed to systemic problems in Nigeria’s customs administration, including corruption, manual processes, and inconsistent interpretation of trade rules.
It described these as barriers to trade.
VANGUARD
