By Steve Agbota
The Sea Empowerment and Research Center (SEREC) has called on the federal government to urgently reforms its trade and logistics infrastructure with the development of dedicated cargo airports and integrated sea–air and air–sea cargo multimodal corridors as Nigeria risks missing out on the opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
This was disclosed in a Policy White Paper dated January 22, prepared by the Sea Empowerment and Research Center (SEREC) and submitted to President Bola Tinubu through the Ministers of Aviation and Aerospace Development; Marine and Blue Economy; and Industry, Trade and Investment.
According to the document, Nigeria’s AfCFTA ambitions are being undermined by deep structural weaknesses in its logistics system, particularly the absence of dedicated air cargo infrastructure, weak sea–air and air–sea integration, and fragmented multimodal trade corridors.
However, SEREC hinted that these gaps have created systemic inefficiencies, resulting in high freight costs, prolonged transit times, weak regional connectivity, and declining competitiveness for Nigerian shippers and exporters within the continental market.
The document stated that Nigeria’s logistics ecosystem remains fragmented and largely passenger-focused, despite significant investments in airport, port and rail transport infrastructures, terminals, inland container depots and logistics parks, whose poor connectivity remain major constraints to export growth and value-chain development.
The paper identified key structural challenges, including the absence of cargo-centric airport development, bonded warehouses, dedicated cargo terminals, cold-chain and pharmaceutical logistics facilities, cargo free trade zones and weak automated handling and management systems, and poor connectivity between production centres and export gateways.
These, SEREC noted, have continued to inflate freight costs, delay cargo movement and weaken the competitiveness of Nigerian exports under AfCFTA.
The document also noted that cargo movements from Southern and Eastern Africa into Nigeria often require trans-shipment through Europe, the Middle East, Asia or America due to the absence of direct intra-African cargo routes.
This structure, the paper said, increases shipping costs, introduces double cargo handling, extends voyage times and structurally places Nigerian businesses at a disadvantage within continental trade competition.
“Nigeria’s current logistics architecture remains fragmented, mode-isolated, and structurally inefficient. Ongoing investments in ports, roads, rail and airports are largely developed in isolation rather than as components of an integrated national trade logistics system,” the document stated. Drawing from Singapore’s cargo-led logistics model, the White Paper advocated a “cargo-first” approach to airport development, supported by cargo free trade zones and terminals, bonded multimodal corridors and technology-driven logistics governance and a unified customs systems. SEREC also emphasised the need for unified governance structures, high-value cargo vaults, automated cargo processing systems and strong private sector participation to anchor Nigeria’s unified logistics transformation.
Among its recommendations, SEREC called for the designation of national cargo airports, the creation of sea–air and air–sea cargo corridors, linking ports to cargo airports, inland depots to air terminals and rail terminals to seaports, all operating under single Customs regimes.
The white paper also proposed integration of the National Single Window (NSW) to support end-to-end multimodal cargo clearance, integrated inspection protocols, cargo tracking architecture and inter-agency data sharing.
The document also urged the government to incentivise direct intra-African cargo routes, promote regional shipping consortia, direct trade route subsidies, bilateral cargo agreements and develop hinterland trade corridors linking agro-processing zones, inland container depots, cargo airports and industrial parks to export hubs.
SEREC proposed the creation of a National Multimodal Logistics Council to coordinate policies across aviation, maritime, trade, customs, transport and investment agencies as well as the private sector stakeholders.
The implementation roadmap outlined short-term actions within 24 month, spanning policy harmonisation, cargo airport designation, legal frameworks, pilot cargo corridors and NSW integration planning.
The document highlighted the medium-term actions to include cargo terminal construction, multimodal corridor deployment, African route development programme and institutional integration with an implementation timeline of between two to five years.
SEREC proposed long-term actions from between five to 10 years implementation such as continental cargo hub positioning, global trans-shipment competitiveness, logistics industrial clusters and export-led industrialisation.
The white paper added that the framework aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda on economic diversification, infrastructure modernisation, industrial development, investment attraction, non-oil export growth, youth employment, regional integration and trade facilitation.
