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✅ SONCAP · Certification & Clearance · Start to Finish

You've found the SONCAP desk. Whatever you're importing, however stuck you are — we take it from here.

First container or four-hundredth, one carton of samples or a factory's annual output — the process is the same two certificates, and we run both ends of it: testing and Product Certificate with the accredited firms, Form M, shipment certificate, PAAR, customs. You ask; it gets handled.

Find my route in 60 seconds ↓

Just talk to a human

🧭 Route found for you — A, B or C 📦 Any regulated product 🚢 We import under SONCAP ourselves 🆘 Stuck-at-port rescue 🕒 Answers same working day

The whole journey, one desk

Two certificates stand between your goods and the Nigerian market

🧪Test & certifyProduct tested to Nigerian standards at accredited labs

📄Product CertificatePC issued by an accredited firm — Route A, B or C

📝Form MPC opens your e-Form M with the bank

🚢ShipGoods sail with invoice, packing list, B/L

✅SONCAP CertificateSC issued per shipment against your documents

📡PAARSC activates your Pre-Arrival Assessment Report

🔓ClearedCustoms releases — goods enter the market

The Product Certificate belongs to the product and exporter; the SONCAP Certificate clears each shipment. Miss either and the container waits at the port — which is exactly what we exist to prevent.

Three ways in — we'll pick the right one

Route A, B or C: matched to how you ship

ROUTE A · PC1Unregistered

First-timers & one-off shipments

Fastest to start — no registration history needed
Product tested and every consignment inspected
Certificate covers the single shipment

⬆️ Four compliant shipments + factory audit can elevate you to Route B — we manage the climb.

ROUTE B · PC2Registered

Regular exporters with quality systems

Valid one year across multiple shipments
Periodic — not every-shipment — inspection & testing
Faster, cheaper per container than Route A

🎯 The sweet spot for most businesses trading steadily into Nigeria.

ROUTE C · PC3Licensed

High-volume, consistently compliant manufacturers

Valid one year — the fastest clearance rhythm
Built on audited manufacturing quality
Minimal per-shipment friction

🏭 Factory-scale importing runs on Route C — we handle audits and renewals.

The SONCAP Route Finder

Five taps. No jargon needed. It reads your situation, names your route, lists your documents — and hands the whole thing to the desk with your answers attached.

1 · Who are you in this shipment?

2 · What's the product?

3 · How often will you ship?

4 · Where are you right now?

5 · Any certificates already?

Container held at Apapa, Tin Can, Onne? That's a today problem — treat it like one.

Missing SC, PAAR queries, documentation gaps — every day at the port is demurrage money. Send the shipment details now and the desk starts on the fix immediately, with our clearing agents already at the terminals.

Port rescue — now

Why importers hand SONCAP to us

We don't advise from the sidelines — we import

🚢 Our own containers clear under SONCAP

Wigmore imports into Nigeria year-round — the process on this page is the one our own goods travel through. You get the path we actually use, not a brochure.

🤝 Accredited firms, one coordinator

Testing, certification and inspection run through SON-accredited firms — we coordinate the whole chain, chase every stage, and keep your timeline honest.

🔗 The rest of the journey, in-house

Freight, NAFDAC, clearing agents, warehousing, distribution — certification is one leg of a trip we run end to end.

SONCAP, answered straight

What actually is SONCAP?

Nigeria's pre-shipment conformity programme: regulated products must be verified against Nigerian Industrial Standards (or approved equivalents) before shipment. Two certificates result — a Product Certificate for the product, and a per-shipment SONCAP Certificate that customs requires for clearance. No SC, no release.

How long does it take?

Route A first-timers: allow time for lab testing plus certification before sailing — start before you book the vessel and it won't hold you up. Routes B and C run on annual certificates, so per-shipment paperwork moves in days. Shipment certificates are typically issued within days of complete final documents — the biggest delays we see come from starting late, not from the process.

What does it cost?

It depends on route, product family, testing scope and shipment pattern — which is exactly what the Route Finder narrows down. Answer its five questions and the desk returns a written quote for your specific case, so you're comparing real numbers, not ranges.

Is my product SONCAP — or NAFDAC?

Rule of thumb: things people eat, drink, apply or take as medicine — food, beverages, drugs, cosmetics — are regulated by NAFDAC, not SONCAP; we run those too via the NAFDAC desk. Most other manufactured goods are SONCAP-regulated. Mixed consignments can need both — tell the desk what's in the container and we'll split it correctly.

What if a product fails testing?

A non-conformity report isn't the end — it names exactly what missed the standard. We work the corrective path: fix, retest, and keep your shipping window alive. The expensive version of failure is discovering it at the port; testing first is precisely how you avoid that.

I heard the process moved to a new government platform?

Yes — certification processing has been migrating to Nigeria's National Single Window platform in 2026. Portals change; the two-certificate logic doesn't. Our filings run on the current system day in, day out, so the migration is our problem to track, not yours.