SEREC Urges Reforms, Not Abandonment Of NSW

The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) has responded to commentaries questioning the National Single Window (NSW), “dual clearing” and parallel manual interventions at Nigerian ports.

SEREC made the position known in a statement signed and made available to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos.

The statement said constructive criticism and independent scrutiny were necessary for any major national reform to succeed and deliver results.

It urged distinction between genuine implementation gaps and sweeping conclusions that misrepresent the NSW architecture and statutory responsibilities.

The centre described the NSW as a necessary and strategic reform for Nigeria’s trade facilitation and global competitiveness.

It noted that Phase One challenges did not prove the policy was defective, but showed areas needing refinement and correction.

SEREC said the focus should be evidence-based diagnosis, integration and progressive optimisation, not uncritical celebration or outright rejection.

The group clarified that physical intervention after electronic release does not automatically amount to “dual clearing.”

It explained that Customs and other agencies retained legal powers for risk management, intelligence, security and compliance checks.

SEREC asked whether interventions were authorised, necessary, documented and risk-based, instead of repetitive and undocumented.

The centre condemned arbitrary interference with cargo, but warned against prohibiting lawful examinations in the name of facilitation.

It said Nigeria’s trade environment was not yet fully compliant and required a compliance audit before blaming all checks on corruption.

SEREC advocated a transparent Trade Compliance and Intervention Performance Framework to measure and reduce legitimate interventions over time.

The centre supported “One Cargo, One Digital Identity” with shared data for Customs and other government agencies.

It stressed that NSW success depended on interoperability, process harmonisation, data standards and intelligent risk assessment, not just portal connections.

SEREC said manual processes should be reduced intelligently, with minimum physical checks, especially for high-risk goods like arms and narcotics.

It cautioned against tagging all implementation delays as “institutional resistance” without evidence, and urged investigation when wrongdoing was proven.

The centre called for a Phase-One lessons-learned review before expansion, and urged stakeholders to make the NSW faster, smarter and more transparent.

In another development, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has charged non-oil exporters in Plateau to accelerate their export competitiveness in order to make their mark in the global export space.

The organisation gave the charge on Thursday in Jos during its Strategic Partnership on SME Export Financing seminar, organised in collaboration with commercial banks in the state.

The programme is aimed at sensitising Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) on ways to access finances to boost their export businesses.

Mrs Juliet Onmoke, the North Central Zonal Coordinator of NEPC, who gave the advice, urged the exporters to up their game in maximising profits in their businesses.

“We continually call on the non-oil exporters in the state to increase what they are doing, add value to their craft and basically up their game and expand production. When you are talking of expanding production, that is where finances come in.”

“That is why we are calling on all the financial institutions to talk to them on how to assess finances if they need to borrow money from them, because we want them to double their export.”

“Our mantra is double your export; we want the volume and value of exports on the Plateau to increase.”

“So we encourage them to add value to their products and expand their production, thereby growing or doubling whatever they are producing.”

“And in doing that, of course, they are going to need finances, and that is why we have people that are talking to them on how to access finances to grow their business today,” Onmoke said.

Similarly, Mrs Nonye Ayeni, the Executive Director of NEPC, reiterated the importance of partnership with commercial banks for the financing of SME’s to achieve global Competitiveness.

“Today’s partnership is not merely about financing. It is about creating the financial architecture that enables Nigerian enterprises to compete internationally.”

“It is about transforming export potential into export performance, and export performance into sustainable national prosperity.”

“Over the last two years, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council has deliberately repositioned itself from being primarily an export promotion institution to becoming a strategic facilitator of export competitiveness.”

“Our approach has been guided by simple principles: exporters cannot compete globally without a complete ecosystem comprising market intelligence, quality assurance, capacity development, trade facilitation, affordable and appropriate finance.”

“The results of this deliberate strategy are becoming increasingly evident,” Ayeni stated.

Earlier, in their goodwill messages, representatives of the Plateau State Small and Medium Entreprise Development Agency (PLASMEDA) and the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Salihu Nyalun, urged participants to key into the sessions so as to derive the most benefit from them.