Nigeria’s indefinite shutdown of its borders is taking its toll on small and medium scale businesses especially those that depend on cross border transactions. This was the findings of our Correspondent who visited two key border towns of Seme and Idiroko over the weekend. Many business people this Correspondent spoke with lamented that the closure has negatively impacted their businesses as what they thought would be just for two weeks or less has become indefinite leaving them in limbo.
Nobody seems to know when the border will be reopened even as the ECOWAS Parliament has urged the Nigerian government to reopen them. Speaking on the development, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) said that Nigeria’s borders will remain closed until the country and its neighbours agree on existing ECOWAS protocol on movement. He stated that there is no specific time for opening the borders adding that “if they agree with us tomorrow on the existing laws, then we sign and update the existing protocol of transit, that’s all”. The Comptroller General informed that there is the likelihood that a meeting would soon take place as efforts are on top gear to have a round table discussion over the sticky issues relating to reasons why Nigeria had to shut its borders.
The Nigeria Customs Service said that it has made tremendous seizures of contraband products in recent times which necessitated government’s decisions to shut down the borders because it felt that efforts at growing the economy through import substitution is being sabotaged by people engaged in nefarious activities using the borders. Noting that by closing the borders, Nigeria was able to completely block the importation of contraband.
Read also : Seme Border Shutdown Threatens Economic Growth of West African Region in 2019
Reacting to the claims made by the Customs, some business people who spoke with this Correspondent said that it is a very wrong assumption by the Customs and the Nigerian government to see every product and business transactions across the borders are illegal or contraband because many businesses engage within the ambit of the law. They call on the federal government to resolve as soon as possible, whatever disagreement they have with the neighbouring countries and open the borders for businesses engaged in legal transactions.
Mr. Olufemi Johnson, a licensed customs agent said that what the government should do is to tighten the noose on smugglers while businessmen engaged in legal transactions should be allowed to continue with their businesses instead of such a blanket closure.
The Customs boss however insisted that the closure has helped Nigeria tremendously as it has led to the complete blocking of the influxes of illicit goods, and most importantly, stopped the exportation of petroleum product which is the biggest problem the country has. Also through the measure, the importation of foreign rice has stopped and the market for local varieties has risen.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.