How to Import from China to Nigeria in 2026: Form M, B'Odogwu, SONCAP, NAFDAC and the USD 300 De Minimis

TL;DR

• Commercial imports start with a TIN and registration on B’Odogwu, the customs platform that since February 2026 is the only official system for declarations and valuation.
• Form M is filed through an authorised bank for all physical goods, with the invoice, certificate of origin, packing list and transport documents. Advance payments to suppliers are capped at 30%.
• Regulated goods need SONCAP: the Product Certificate to open Form M and the SONCAP Certificate for clearance, both through the National Single Window since 27 March 2026. Food, cosmetics and drugs need NAFDAC registration.
• Licensed customs agents must be Nigerian citizens.
• Parcels: express shipments up to USD 300 enter without duty and tax, up to four times a year per person. Rules as checked on 6 October 2026.

Step 1. Register

Importers register on B’Odogwu with their TIN from the tax authority’s portal. Form M, the pre-arrival assessment report (PAAR), duty assessment and payment all run through it. The exchange rate used to value imports is set by the Central Bank and passed into B’Odogwu; on 6 February 2026, for example, it was NGN 1,365.56 per US dollar.

Step 2. Open Form M through your bank

The Central Bank’s foreign exchange manual, 4th edition of June 2026, requires Form M through an authorised bank for all physical goods. The bank needs the proforma invoice, certificate of origin, packing list and transport documents. Terms are mostly CFR, a value tolerance of plus or minus 10% applies, and advance payment to the supplier may not exceed 30% of the value. Without Form M you cannot pay your supplier through official channels.

Step 3. SONCAP and NAFDAC

NAFDAC enforcement has stepped up. In August 2026 it sealed shops at Lagos Trade Fair over unregistered cosmetics, and on 8 September 2026 it said it was closing logistics companies used to bring in counterfeit goods.

Step 4. Clearance

The Customs Service handbook describes the sequence: proforma invoice, Form M, SONCAP, manifest, PAAR, single goods declaration, payment through a bank, then a risk channel. Green means release, blue is for authorised economic operators, yellow means document checks, orange means scanning and red means physical examination.

Only Nigerian citizens can be licensed customs agents under the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, so foreign forwarders always clear through a local partner. The same Act sets a 25% surcharge plus penalties on duty underpaid through false declarations.

Step 5. Duty and charges

Duty follows the ECOWAS common external tariff with no preference for Chinese goods, plus a 7% surcharge on the duty, the ETLS levy of 0.5% of CIF, a levy of 4% of FOB value and VAT of 7.5%. With 20% duty that comes to about 35% of CIF value. The full breakdown with worked examples is in Nigeria import duty and levies in 2026.

Small parcels and mini importation

Since September 2025 the Customs board allows express shipments and passenger baggage up to USD 300 duty- and tax-free, no more than four times a year. Splitting or undervaluing invoices to stay under the limit leads to confiscation. The limit is for personal purchases.

Commercial “mini importation” works differently: a Nigerian agent with a warehouse in Guangzhou consolidates many clients’ parcels and clears them under its own declaration, and the client collects the goods in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt. It is convenient, but the client gets no customs documents in their own name. China reported USD 24.9 billion of exports to Nigeria in 2025, roughly twice what Nigerian statistics recorded, which is why enforcement keeps tightening.

Step 6. Plan for port time

The Finance Ministry put cargo dwell time in Nigerian ports at 18 to 21 days in March 2026, with a target of under seven days by the end of the year. Apapa and Tin Can in Lagos handle about 70% of Nigeria’s trade and suffer chronic congestion. Build that time into your stock plan, on top of about five to six weeks of sea transit from South China.

How Cargix handles Nigeria

We consolidate goods from your suppliers in Guangzhou and Yiwu and ship by sea to Lagos and Kano or by air to Lagos (about 12 days) and Kano (about 13 days). Clearance in Nigeria is done by our licensed Nigerian partner, and the quote shows freight and clearance separately. Details are on our China to Nigeria page.