We’ve covered each piece of the export process individually — registration, financing, documentation, the NXP, pre-shipment inspection, product selection, buyer sourcing, and pricing. This final post brings it all together into one continuous timeline, so you can see exactly how each step connects to the next.
Step 1: Get legally registered (before you need it)
Your CAC registration and NEPC Exporter’s Certificate should already be in place before you’re chasing a live deal. This isn’t a step to rush once a buyer appears — it’s groundwork that runs in parallel with everything else on this list.
Step 2: Choose your product and confirm its regulatory pathway
Know upfront whether your product needs NAFDAC, SON, or mineral permit clearance, and what quality/grading standards international buyers will expect. This shapes your sourcing costs and your realistic timeline before you go looking for a buyer.
Step 3: Find and verify a genuine buyer
No shipment moves without a confirmed buyer and a signed sales contract or purchase order. Verify company registration, trade references, and willingness to work within proper payment and banking channels before you commit. This is the step where fraud most commonly enters the process — treat verification as non-negotiable.
Step 4: Calculate your price and confirm terms
With a real buyer and signed contract in hand, calculate your export price based on your full landed cost under the agreed Incoterm (FOB, CIF, etc.), with a deliberate margin and currency buffer built in — not a number pulled from what feels competitive.
Step 5: Source and prepare your product
Acquire or produce your goods, then take them through whatever cleaning, sorting, drying, or packaging is needed to meet your buyer’s specification and any regulatory grading standard. This is usually where the bulk of your capital gets deployed, so timing this against confirmed buyer commitment (not speculative sourcing) protects your cash flow.
Step 6: Open your Form NXP
Once you have a confirmed transaction, open your e-Form NXP through your bank — before shipment, not after. This is what legally ties your export to Nigeria’s foreign exchange system and enables you to receive payment through official channels later.
Step 7: Assemble your full documentation set
Commercial invoice, packing list, Certificate of Origin, CCVO, and any product-specific certificates (phytosanitary, NAFDAC, SON, mineral permits) all need to be prepared and cross-checked against each other for consistency. This is the step where small mismatches — a value here, a product description there — cause the delays that show up later at inspection or the port.
Step 8: Undergo Pre-Shipment Inspection
Your PIA verifies quantity, quality, and value against your declared documentation and issues a Clean Report of Findings once everything checks out. This report feeds directly into your NXP and customs clearance — build inspection scheduling into your timeline with buffer room, not right against your shipping deadline.
Step 9: Book freight and ship
With inspection cleared, your freight forwarder handles booking with a shipping line or airline, customs clearance at the port, and loading. You’ll receive a Bill of Lading or Airway Bill as proof of shipment — a document your buyer needs to take delivery, and one your bank will require to process payment.
Step 10: Receive payment and close out your NXP
Once your buyer pays according to the agreed terms, proceeds come in against your NXP number, and your bank reconciles the transaction with the CBN. A clean close-out here — with values matching across every document from the invoice through to payment — sets you up for a smooth next transaction rather than starting the trust-building process over.
The thread that ties it all together
Notice how many steps reference the ones before them: your NXP value has to match your invoice, your inspection report has to match your CCVO, your payment has to match your contract terms. Export success isn’t really about mastering any single step — it’s about keeping every document and every value consistent across the entire chain, from your first buyer conversation to your final bank reconciliation.
Where to go from here
If you’ve worked through this entire series, you now understand the export process end to end — better than most first-time exporters do when they start their first shipment. The next step is applying it to your specific product, buyer, and timeline, which is where the details tend to get harder than the theory.
Need help navigating this process?
Refod Global Limited supports exporters through the complete journey — from registration and buyer verification through documentation, NXP processing, and pre-shipment inspection. Get in touch to work through your first (or next) export with an experienced partner alongside you.
