Certificate of Origin Nigeria: Who Issues It
Nigeria's Certificate of Origin is issued by NACCIMA, not NEPC and not Customs. What it proves, when a buyer needs it, and why we are not quoting you a fee yet.
Nigeria’s Certificate of Origin is issued by NACCIMA — the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. Not by NEPC, and not by Customs. It states where your goods were produced, which is what lets your buyer claim preferential tariff treatment under a trade agreement.
The facts
| Issued by | NACCIMA — National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture |
| What it proves | The country of origin of the goods |
| Why buyers want it | Trade-agreement benefits and customs clearance at destination |
| Issued per | Shipment |
| Apply at | naccimaecertify.com (NACCIMA e-Certify) |
| Fee | Not published — see below |
Get the issuer right
A large share of the guidance online tells Nigerian exporters to obtain the Certificate of Origin from NEPC, or from the Nigeria Customs Service. NEPC’s own documentation page names NACCIMA as the issuing body, and NEPC is in a position to know, since it publishes the official document list.
This matters practically. Turning up at the wrong agency costs you days you have usually already promised to a buyer, and a first-time exporter working from a blog post is exactly who ends up doing it. NACCIMA is a chambers-of-commerce body — you deal with a chamber, not a ministry.
How to apply
NACCIMA runs an online portal, e-Certify, at naccimaecertify.com. It states three steps:
- Register online — “Create your secure business account in minutes”
- Submit application — “Upload your required documents and submit your application digitally”
- Receive and verify — “Get your e-Certificate, which can be verified globally”
The portal does not publish which documents are required, and it states no processing time beyond a claim to “reduce processing time from days to hours”. Treat that as a claim rather than a commitment until you have been through it once.
NACCIMA contact: 8A Oba Akinjobi Road, Ikeja GRA, Lagos · +234 (0) 811 8877 562 · support@naccimaecertify.com · Mon–Fri 09:00–17:00 WAT.
The portal also advertises a China Zero Tariff Certificate. If you are shipping to China, ask about it — a zero-tariff certificate changes your buyer’s landed cost, which is leverage in a price negotiation. We have not verified the underlying scheme and will cover it separately.
What it is for
The certificate answers one question for the destination’s customs authority: where was this made?
That question has money attached to it. Trade agreements charge different duty depending on origin, so a buyer importing Nigerian cocoa under a preferential arrangement needs documentary proof the cocoa is Nigerian. Without it they pay the standard rate, and the gap comes out of somebody’s margin — usually yours, via a renegotiated price.
Some buyers will also treat it as a routine part of the document set regardless of any trade agreement, because their bank or their own customs broker asks for it.
Where it sits in the chain
The Certificate of Origin is one of the goods-movement documents, alongside:
| Document | Issued by |
|---|---|
| Clean Certificate of Inspection (CCI) | Pre-shipment inspection agencies |
| Certificate of Weight and Quality | Independent quality assessors |
| Certificate of Origin | NACCIMA |
| Bill of Lading | Shipping agency |
| Air Waybill | Airline |
| Road Transport Bill | Logistics company |
Which of these you need depends on how the goods travel and what the buyer’s letter of credit specifies. Read the credit terms before you book freight — the document list in a letter of credit is a contract, and a bank will reject a presentation over a missing certificate.
The fee
NACCIMA does not publish what it charges. The fee is not on the e-Certify portal, and the naccima.com page that search results point to returns a 404. So we are not printing a number. Fees quoted elsewhere are not traceable to NACCIMA’s own publications, and a fee you cannot source is a fee that will be wrong when you get to the counter.
Ask when you register, or call the number above before you quote a landed cost to a buyer.
This page is marked LAST CHECKED rather than VERIFIED for exactly that reason: the issuer is confirmed from an official source, the cost is not. Chasing NACCIMA’s published schedule is the next task on this page, and the figure will appear here with its source and date once we have it.
What it costs you to skip it
Your goods can generally still clear without a Certificate of Origin, but your buyer loses any preferential duty rate and pays more than the deal assumed. That is not a problem that stays on their side of the table. Where the document is named in a letter of credit, the consequence is sharper: the bank can refuse the presentation, and payment waits on a correction you have to make from Nigeria after the goods have gone.
Sources
- NEPC, “Export documents and procedures” — https://nepc.gov.ng/get-started/export-documents-procedures/ — names NACCIMA as the issuing body and places the certificate among the goods-movement documents
- NACCIMA e-Certify — https://naccimaecertify.com/ — application steps, contact details, China Zero Tariff Certificate; no fee published
Last verified: 18 September 2026. Issuer and application route confirmed; fee outstanding because NACCIMA does not publish one.
Primary sources: nepc.gov.ng