How to Import Shea Butter from Nigeria

Anyone who exports from Nigeria must hold an exporter's certificate issued by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council. The certificate is obtained on NEPC's e-registration platform and is renewable; NEPC states that new certificates are valid for an initial twenty-four months and then renew yearly. The buyer registers nothing in Nigeria.

The exporting company must also be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. EMI Agro Industries Limited is RC Number 9364495, with its factory at Moniya Industrial Zone, Moniya–Iseyin Expressway, Ibadan. Ask any supplier for confirmation that NEPC registration is current.

Buyer's check: the supplier can confirm current NEPC registration and name the CAC number on the invoice.

The Incoterm decides who books freight and where risk passes. The International Chamber of Commerce publishes the current Incoterms rules; they are not Nigerian law, but they are the language banks and carriers expect. EMI Agro quotes on the Incoterm the buyer names. We do not list a fixed menu of terms here.

The pro-forma invoice states grade, quantity, packaging, price basis and load port. It is the document the bank uses when it opens Form NXP, and it is the document a letter of credit will call for. Name the load port from the ports EMI actually uses — Apapa (Lagos) and Tin Can Island (Lagos) — unless the order agrees another Lagos gateway. See Incoterms for the definitions.

Buyer's check: Incoterm and load port are named on the pro-forma.

Form NXP (Nigeria Export Proceeds) is completed with an authorised dealer bank before shipment. It is the Central Bank of Nigeria's record that export proceeds will be repatriated. Since 2019 the form is electronic on the Trade Monitoring System (TRMS). The TRMS FAQ states that every e-Form NXP needs the pro-forma invoice issued to the buyer, and that a processing bank validates the form.

The NXP number appears on later documents and is the reference the inspection agent and Nigeria Customs Service use. Proceeds must be repatriated within the period the Central Bank stipulates for non-oil exports. Cash or third-party payments that never reach the exporter's bank can block matching. The buyer files nothing, but a supplier who cannot describe Form NXP is not exporting formally.

Buyer's check: nothing to file — but the supplier should be able to name the NXP reference once the bank has processed it.

NAFDAC regulates food, cosmetics and their raw materials in Nigeria. Shea butter shipped as a food or cosmetic raw material is a regulated product. A NAFDAC export document is obtained per consignment; it should name the product, the quantity and the consignee. EMI Agro's NAFDAC registration status is on certifications and quality.

Missing or mismatched consignee details on the NAFDAC document are a common cause of last-minute delay. Give the exporter the exact legal name and address the destination broker will use.

Buyer's check: the document names the product, quantity and consignee exactly as on the invoice.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria runs product-certification schemes for goods made in Nigeria (including MANCAP for manufactured products). Those schemes apply to the manufacturer, not to the foreign buyer.

SONCAP is an import-conformity scheme for goods entering Nigeria. It is not an export document and must not be demanded as a “SONCAP export certificate”. Include a SON conformity paper in the export set only if the destination or the buyer's own specification asks for one. EMI Agro's SON status is on the quality page.

Buyer's check: do not demand a “SONCAP export certificate”.

The Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service is Nigeria's national plant protection organisation. It issues phytosanitary certificates for plant-origin products when the destination authority requires one. Whether processed shea butter (HS 1515.90) needs a phytosanitary certificate is a destination decision, not a Nigerian one. Many buyers request the certificate regardless because brokers ask for it at clearance.

Wooden pallets and dunnage should carry the IPPC ISPM 15 mark. Fumigation, when used, is done by a licensed operator and produces its own certificate. Ask your destination NPPO or forwarder whether a phytosanitary certificate is required for HS 1515.90 before the exporter applies, so the type of certificate matches what the broker will file.

Buyer's check: you have asked whether HS 1515.90 needs a phytosanitary certificate at your border.

The ordinary, non-preferential certificate of origin is issued by a recognised Nigerian chamber of commerce — commonly the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry or another chamber in the NACCIMA network. For most shipments to the European Union, the United Kingdom or the United States that certificate is what the broker files.

Preferential certificates are different documents. ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme certificates apply to ECOWAS destinations. AfCFTA certificates of origin are issued by the designated competent authority for partner states. Preference schemes are destination-side: the country import guides will say which certificate a given market wants. Ask which certificate your customs broker needs before the exporter applies, so the type is not wrong on sailing day.

Buyer's check: the broker has named the certificate type before the exporter applies.

Under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme, non-oil exports are inspected by a government-appointed pre-shipment inspection agent. The agent checks quantity, quality and the price declared on Form NXP, then issues a Clean Certificate of Inspection. NEPC lists the CCI among the goods-movement documents required to export. No loading onto a seagoing vessel should be authorised without it.

The NESS levy is a statutory charge on the FOB value, paid by the exporter through a designated bank. It is not a destination charge and should not appear as a separate line on a typical FOB invoice. Container stuffing is often witnessed at this point. How many drums fit a container is a separate calculation.

Buyer's check: the CCI number matches the shipment; the levy is the exporter's cost under FOB.

The document set that travels with the shipment is the commercial invoice, the packing list, the batch certificate of analysis, the certificate of origin, phytosanitary or fumigation certificates where issued, the NAFDAC document, the CCI, and the bill of lading issued by the carrier after loading. Check the batch COA before the vessel sails.

A licensed customs agent files the export declaration on the Nigeria Customs Service electronic system. Customs examines and releases the cargo. The HS heading for shea butter is 1515.90. Request scanned drafts of the invoice, packing list and COA before the vessel sails so consignee details can still be corrected.

Buyer's check: you have drafts of the invoice, packing list and COA before the vessel sails.

Lagos deep-water gateways include Apapa, Tin Can Island and Lekki Deep Sea Port. EMI Agro lists Apapa (Lagos) and Tin Can Island (Lagos) as load ports. The factory is at Moniya Industrial Zone, Moniya–Iseyin Expressway, Ibadan, Oyo State. After loading, the bill of lading and the full document set go to the buyer or the bank.

At the destination, duty, registration and labelling are your forwarder's job. Open the country import guides for the tariff line and documents at the discharge port. What to do when the container lands is the storage procedure — temperature swings between Lagos and a cool destination are how drums sweat.

Buyer's check: your forwarder has the vessel ETD and the document-courier tracking.