As Nigerian officials meet with those of Republic of Benin and Niger to discuss ways of addressing issues raised concerning Nigeria’s unilateral closure of its borders, analysts are worried that the outcomes may not solve the problems as the agreement reached still failed to address the fundamental issues relating to smuggling of goods across the borders.
Officials from the three countries involved met in Abuja over the week and agreed to among other things, established a joint border patrol team comprising the police, customs, and immigration to recommend a date for the reopening of the borders. The three countries agreed in a resolution at the end of the Tripartite Anti-Smuggling Committee Meeting of Nigeria, Benin, and Niger.
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Reading the communiqué at the end of the meeting, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the meeting noted the concerns raised by Niger and Benin and agreed to establish a monitoring and evaluating committee of the three countries. He added that the committee would comprise ministers of finance, trade, foreign affairs, the customs, immigration, and the national security adviser. “The meeting agreed that the monitoring and evaluation committee will ensure the full implementation of the adopted mandate of the Joint Anti-Smuggling Human Trafficking Committee. Nigeria, Benin also agreed on the establishment of trade facilitation committee among the three countries, comprising of ministers of finance and trade” Onyema stated.
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Continuing, he said that “to promote intra-regional trade among the three countries, as well as put in place, sanctions against smuggling of goods. The governments agreed to ensure persons from the three countries to enter/exit each other’s state with valid ECOWAS recognized travel documents through recognized controlled posts”.
Aside from the establishment of a joint border patrol team comprising the police, customs, immigration of the three countries, the team is to hold its first meeting in Abuja from November 25 to November 27, 2019. And the patrol team is to agree on the modality to carry out its operation and recommend a date for the opening of the borders.
Reacting to the outcomes of the meeting, Dr. Abdul Hassan of the West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) noted that this should be about the fifth time Nigeria and Benin Republic are meeting to agree on certain set objectives to tackle issues of smuggling and other illegal activities across the border posts but nothing ever came out of it. He added that there is still an existing joint patrol made up of personnel from both countries which has not been disbanded adding that the key issue is corruption within the customs and immigration of both countries. And unless it is addressed, we will still get back to square one.
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It could be recalled that a member of the House of Representatives representing Daura Constituency in the House alleged that even with the said border closure, that smuggling is still ongoing across the Nigeria-Niger border post in Daura., saying that the Customs are culpable and should be called to order.
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.