The United States government has fingered corruption as the major stumbling block to trade and investment in Nigeria.
Speaking in the latest 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said corruption and lack of transparency in tender processes are major concerns to 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 stated.
The continued delay in approving import permits for American agricultural products was also blamed on Nigeria, with the U.S. authorities calling the issue a longstanding trade barrier that has hindered access to the Nigerian market.
According to the report, Nigeria had not acted on several pending requests concerning food and agricultural imports from the US despite repeated efforts to secure market access.
“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,” the US National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers said.
“Nigeria is not consistent in the implementation of technical regulations and sanitary and phytosanitary measures, which can create confusion and undermine compliance.
“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,” it added.
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