By Joshua Yousouph
The Sea Empowerment & Research Center (SEREC) has raised the alarm over the increasing attempts by criminal networks to exploit Nigeria’s ports, land borders and trade corridors for the movement of illicit arms, ammunition, narcotics, prohibited goods and criminal finances.
SEREC, while commending the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, and the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for its sustained intelligence-led interventions and seizures, said the recurring interceptions should no longer be treated as routine Customs enforcement activities.
In a public policy statement signed by its Head of Research, Fwdr Eugene Nweke, on August 9, 2026, the research centre said the frequency and nature of the seizures suggested that Nigeria’s maritime and land-frontier networks were being persistently tested by transnational criminal syndicates, arms traffickers, drug cartels, organised smuggling networks and potentially terrorist-linked interests.
According to SEREC, the development requires a fundamental shift in national consciousness, stressing that Nigeria’s ports, borders and trade corridors have become strategic national-security frontiers in addition to their traditional economic functions.
“A prohibited weapon intercepted at a port is potentially a weapon denied to a criminal, terrorist or violent extremist network. A narcotics consignment stopped at the border represents the disruption of a criminal supply chain,” the organisation stated.
SEREC called on the Federal Government and relevant security and regulatory agencies to undertake a deeper national-security assessment of the recurring seizures and strengthen intelligence coordination and preventive measures.
It warned that Nigeria could not afford to wait until illicit arms, ammunition, narcotics, terrorist logistics and criminal finances had penetrated the country before taking action.
The centre also expressed concern over the approaching 2027 electioneering period, noting that increased political activities, movement of people and goods, illicit financing, proliferation of small arms and light weapons and communal tensions could create additional vulnerabilities for criminal networks.
It consequently urged the government to intensify intelligence gathering, border surveillance, inter-agency coordination and preventive security measures ahead of the electoral cycle.
### Calls For More Investment In Customs Intelligence
SEREC specifically advocated greater government support for the intelligence-led approach being adopted by the NCS.
It called for investment in advanced Customs intelligence and risk-management systems, secure real-time information sharing among agencies, advance cargo and pre-arrival information analysis, non-intrusive inspection technologies, maritime and land-border surveillance, data analytics and intelligence fusion.
It also urged stronger international and regional Customs and security cooperation, specialised training for Customs intelligence personnel, as well as improved logistics, welfare and operational support for officers deployed to sensitive locations.
The organisation argued that modern smuggling had evolved beyond individuals physically carrying contraband across poorly guarded borders.
According to SEREC, sophisticated criminal enterprises now employ complex supply chains, false documentation, front companies, concealment techniques, multiple transit routes and trade-based financial mechanisms to disguise illicit operations.
It therefore maintained that the response must equally become more sophisticated.
### Freight Forwarders, Bonded Operators Must Join Security Architecture
SEREC further called for freight forwarders, Customs brokers, licensed bonded terminal operators, shipping and logistics companies and other legitimate trade-chain participants to be integrated into Nigeria’s national border-security and trade-compliance framework.
The organisation said these stakeholders occupy strategic positions within the supply chain and often have access to information concerning consignors, consignees, cargo descriptions, documentation, routing and cargo movements that could assist enforcement authorities.
It, however, acknowledged that legitimate operators could either be unknowingly exploited by criminal networks or, in some cases, deliberately participate in illicit trade.
To address the challenge, SEREC proposed a national Port and Border Trade-Security Enlightenment and Compliance Programme for freight forwarders, Customs brokers, bonded operators and other supply-chain stakeholders.
The programme, it said, should focus on identifying suspicious consignments and trade patterns, Know-Your-Customer and Know-Your-Consignor principles, cargo-risk indicators, concealment and diversion techniques, suspicious-activity reporting channels, cyber and documentary fraud, illicit financial-flow red flags and the legal consequences of facilitating prohibited trade.
SEREC stressed that the objective should not be to criminalise the freight-forwarding and Customs-brokerage professions, but to professionalise, educate and empower legitimate operators to serve as an additional layer of vigilance within Nigeria’s supply-chain security architecture.
The research centre also called for a shift from the traditional “Customs versus smugglers” approach towards a broader framework of shared responsibility for secure and legitimate trade.
It urged stronger intelligence fusion and real-time information sharing among the NCS, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Police Force, immigration authorities, financial-intelligence institutions and other relevant agencies.
SEREC further called for heightened surveillance of maritime and land-frontier routes vulnerable to exploitation by terrorist organisations, bandit networks, arms traffickers, drug cartels and transnational organised crime.
At the same time, the organisation cautioned that stronger border security should not result in indiscriminate cargo intervention or unnecessary delays for compliant traders.
It advocated a system where low-risk and compliant cargo is facilitated efficiently, while credible intelligence triggers targeted intervention against high-risk consignments.
SEREC said the recurring seizures by the Customs Service should be viewed both as evidence of operational vigilance and as a warning about vulnerabilities within Nigeria’s trade corridors.
It maintained that protecting the nation’s ports and frontiers was no longer solely a Customs responsibility but a collective national-security responsibility involving government, security agencies, the maritime industry, freight forwarders, Customs brokers, bonded operators, financial institutions and the wider trading community.
“As Nigeria approaches another critical electoral cycle, the nation must remain vigilant,” SEREC said, insisting that the country’s ports must remain gateways for legitimate commerce and not channels for terrorism, banditry, organised crime, illicit arms, narcotics or other threats to national stability.
