SEREC calls for coordinated national response on productivity, industrialisation, competitiveness

The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) has called for a coordinated national response built around productivity, industrialisation, competiveness, trade facilitation, local value addition, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), Free Zone development, export expansion and responsible foreign investment.

Dr. Eugene Nweke, Head of Research, SEREC, who made this call in a policy position paper of the centre issued on September 22, 2026, on policy bulletin No. 45/2026 tagged: ‘A Strategic Wake-Up Call on the Changing Structure of Nigeria’s Domestic Market, Foreign Competition, AfCFTA and the Urgent Need for Industrial Diversification,’ highlighted that the objective should not be to close Nigeria to the world, but should be to make Nigeria productive enough to compete with the world.

Nweke averred that the recent developments at major Nigerian trading centres, particularly the reported September 15, 2026 protest by traders at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex over the alleged increasing participation of Chinese businesses in direct retail and domestic distribution, should not be viewed merely as another market dispute.

He asserted that they should be regarded as a strategic warning about the changing architecture of international commerce and competition in Nigeria

According to him, the traditional business model in which foreign manufacturers produce goods, Nigerian importers bring them into the country, clearing agents process them, wholesalers distribute them and retailers sell to consumers was increasingly being challenged by integrated global supply chains.

He noted that today, manufacturers and international businesses can combine production, financing, shipping, warehousing, digital commerce, distribution and retail in ways that reduce dependence on traditional intermediaries.

This development, according to the head of research in SEREC, was not exclusively a Chinese phenomenon, highlighting that it was part of a wider transformation driven by globalisation, e-commerce, technology, logistics integration and increasingly sophisticated supply-chain management.

Posing the fundamental question for Nigeria, Nweke queried: “Why are foreign businesses coming into our markets?”

He posed another more important question, asking: “Why are Nigerian businesses still operating predominantly at the trading and distribution end of value chains when Nigeria possesses the market, resources, entrepreneurial capacity and regional access necessary to produce, add value, brand and export?”

SEREC, in the position paper believes Nigeria must urgently transition from an economy disproportionately dependent on importation and resale toward one driven by production, value addition, manufacturing, logistics, branding and exports.

He further averred that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Nigeria’s Free Trade Zone (NFTZ) system and the country’s large domestic market provide important platforms for this transition.

He, however, explained that the opportunity is not to isolate Nigeria from foreign competition, but to make Nigerian enterprise competitive within Nigeria and across Africa.

Highlighting the warning signal from Nigeria’s trading markets, Nweke noted that the reported September 15 protest at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex reflects growing concerns among some Nigerian traders about foreign businesses allegedly participating directly in domestic retail and distribution.

Importation, Clearing, Wholesale, Distribution and Retail.

This ecosystem, according to him, had created millions of livelihoods and generated substantial demand for: importers; freight forwarders; customs brokers; transporters; warehouse operators; distributors; wholesalers; retailers; financial institutions; and other trade-service providers, pointing out that irrespective of these, the global trading environment was changing.

He said the traditional intermediary was increasingly being challenged by integrated supply chains, pointing out its significance to the implications for Nigeria’s business community.

The Business Model Is Changing

The conventional model, according to SEREC, can be represented as: Foreign Factory, Nigerian Importer; Customs/Port Process, Wholesaler; Retailer and Consumer

The centre opined that an increasingly integrated model can look like: Foreign Manufacturer, International Finance; Shipping, Nigerian Distribution/Warehouse, Digital/Wholesale/Retail Platform and Consumer.

The second model, according to SEREC, potentially removes or reduces the role of some traditional intermediaries, pointing out that this is not necessarily an attack on Nigerian business, but a consequence of global supply-chain evolution, maintaining that the appropriate Nigerian response must therefore be structural rather than merely emotional.

The Consumer Cannot Be Blamed

Another uncomfortable reality that must be acknowledged, according to SEREC, is that the Nigerian consumer is primarily concerned with: – affordability; quality; availability; durability; convenience; and value for money, noting that where imported products are cheaper or more readily available than locally produced alternatives, consumers would naturally respond to market incentives.

“Consequently, Nigerian policy cannot be built around asking consumers to permanently pay more simply because a product is locally produced.”

Protection Without Competitiveness Is Not A Sustainable Strategy

SEREC said that it recognises the legitimate responsibility of government to enforce Nigerian laws governing: immigration; business registration; taxation; investment; customs; competition; standards; local participation; and sector-specific regulations, insisting that foreign businesses operating in Nigeria must comply with Nigerian law.

It noted that regulatory protection cannot substitute for competitiveness

SEREC called on Nigeria to pursue a balanced strategy of protecting legitimate Nigerian enterprise, while making Nigerian enterprise competitive enough to survive and expand.

The Real Transformation: From Trader To Industrial Entrepreneur

SEREC believes the Nigerian importer and trader should not be regarded as casualties of industrial transformation, but should become its participants, saying the Nigerian entrepreneur who has spent decades importing a particular product has something that many manufacturers do not initially possess:

Market intelligence. He or she already understands: consumer demand; pricing; distribution; product movement; customer preferences; seasonal patterns; regional markets; and supply-chain behaviour.

That knowledge can become the foundation for industrialisation.

The progression should increasingly become: Import, Assemble, Manufacture, Brand, Distribute, Export.

This is not a call for importation to disappear. It is a call for Nigeria to change the composition and purpose of importation.

Import To Produce — Not Merely Import To Consume

SEREC said Nigeria would continue to require imports as modern economies import gods such as machinery; industrial equipment; components; technology; specialised raw materials; production inputs; medical equipment; industrial chemicals; and other goods that cannot yet be competitively produced domestically.

AfCTA: Nigeria Must Stop Thinking Only About The Nigerian Market

The African Continental Free Trade Area presents a major strategic opportunity, which Nigeria must not approach merely as another trade agreement. It should be treated as a market-expansion and industrialisation platform.

The question for Nigerian entrepreneurs, according to SEREC, should progressively move from: How cheaply can I import this product? to: How competitively can I produce, assemble, process, package or brand this product in Nigeria and sell it across Africa?

That represents a fundamental change in business philosophy, as Nigeria’s market is large, but the African market is much larger.

The strategic objective should be: Made in Nigeria, competitive in Nigeria, distributed in Africa, exported across Africa.

Free Trade Zones Must Become Production Engines

Nigeria has established Free Trade Zones and industrial zones intended to promote investment, manufacturing, employment, technology transfer, export development and economic diversification, but the challenge, according to SEREC, is to maximise their productive impact, highlighting that Free Zones must not become merely sophisticated locations for: warehousing; trading; transshipment; or import distribution, but that their greater strategic value lies in: Manufacturing + Value Addition + Technology + Employment + Export + Foreign Exchange + Local Supply Chains.

Government should therefore measure Free Zone performance beyond the number of licences issued or enterprises registered.

The more meaningful questions are: How much is being manufactured? How much Nigerian value is being added? How many Nigerians are employed and trained? How much technology is being transferred? How many Nigerian SMEs are integrated into supply chains? How much is being exported?

How many African markets are being served?

How much foreign exchange is being generated?

SEREC averred that Nigeria already possesses substantial entrepreneurial and industrial capacity, highlighting Aba as leather, footwear, garments, fabrication and light manufacturing, Nnewi as engineering, automotive-related activities, manufacturing and industrial entrepreneurship; Onitsha as one of Nigeria’s largest commercial and distribution ecosystems, Lagos as finance, logistics, technology, manufacturing, ports and international commerce; Kano as textiles, agro-processing, manufacturing and commercial networks and across Ogun, Kaduna, Rivers, Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Delta and other states are emerging and established industrial capabilities.

The task, therefore, is to connect these clusters to: Finance + Energy + Technology + Standards + Logistics + AfCFTA + Export Markets.

SEREC emphasised that Nigeria does not need to reinvent entrepreneurship, but needed to industrialise the entrepreneurship it already possesses.

A New Role For Freight Forwarders And Customs Brokers

The changing trade environment, according to SEREC should also trigger a strategic transformation within the freight-forwarding and customs-brokerage profession.

If the industry remains overwhelmingly dependent upon the clearance and movement of finished imported consumer goods, its future will remain tied to import volumes.

But manufacturing and export-led growth creates a much wider professional opportunity.

The future freight forwarder should not merely clear cargo, but increasingly become a trade-logistics partner to Nigerian production and African market expansion. This represents an opportunity—not a threat—to the profession.

SEREC averred that the question facing Nigeria is not whether foreign businesses will continue to compete in its market, saying that they will, but the question is whether Nigerian businesses will remain predominantly buyers and resellers of other people’s products, or whether they will increasingly become manufacturers, brand owners, exporters and controllers of regional supply chains.

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