Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) has called for a phased rollout of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) law to minimise its potentially disruptive impact on the critical functions of the nation’s maritime industry agencies, particularly in areas such as trade, security, logistics, and port infrastructure and to ensure a smooth transition for the affected agencies.

In a bulletin released on June 26, 2025, and signed by its Head of Research, Eugene Nweke, and made available to The Guardian yesterday, the research body cautioned that the reform, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, could pose significant risks to the stability and operational mandates of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

According to SEREC, the benefits of the reform include eliminating overlapping jurisdictions, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, enhancing transparency, efficiency, and compliance, lowering administrative costs, removing revenue duties from multiple agencies, and streamlining tax compliance for businesses.

The advocacy group stated that the reform, though progressive in theory, risks sidelining the operational functions of Customs, referencing concerns drawn from past policy experiences such as the “Professional Import Duty Administrators (PIDA).

According to the research body, the central concern lies in the weakening of core institutional mandates, especially for agencies like NIMASA, NPA and NCS, whose survival and operational autonomy depend heavily on the revenues they currently collect.

SEREC further cautioned that any disruption to these agencies’ funding could compromise and derail progress in the country’s maritime safety, security enforcement, coastal surveillance, cargo clearance, and port infrastructure development efforts.

SEREC also highlighted several serious drawbacks, chief among them being the potential loss of jobs in the revenue-generating departments of maritime and petroleum agencies.