The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Monday said it has placed a ban on import and export of all kinds of goods through Nigeria land borders. “For now, all goods, whether illicit or non-illicit, are banned from going and coming into Nigeria,” Hameed Ali, NCS chief, said at a press conference in Abuja.
“Let me add that for the avoidance of doubt that we included all goods because all goods can equally come through our seaports. For that reason, we have deemed it necessary for now that importers of such goods should go through our controlled borders where we have scanners to verify the kind of goods and how healthy to our people can be conducted.” Ali said the measure would enable security agencies to be able to scan the goods entering the country.
In August, the Nigerian government announced the partial closure of its western border with Benin to curb rice smuggling that is threatening the country’s attempt to boost local production. President Muhammadu Buhari said he wants Nigeria to be self-sufficient in rice and has imposed import controls. He said rice smuggling across the western border threatened his policy of self-sufficiency.
However, since the closure of the borders prices of rice both local and foreign have skyrocketed. Ali said border security had seized items worth N1.4 billion since the partial closure of borders.
Ali also said the ban on goods coming into the country across its land borders will last as long as it takes for neighbors to stem the flow of smuggled merchandise. “For now, all goods illegal or legal remain banned from being imported into Nigeria through the land borders. A time limit is not anything we can talk about for now. It will continue as long as we can get the desired results.”
The President unexpectedly closed Nigeria’s borders to goods trade in August declaring the time had come to end rampant smuggling across the porous frontiers. The closure has had a devastating impact on Benin, Nigeria’s neighbor to the west, which has been a key exporter of foodstuffs to Africa’s most populous country. It has also pushed up prices for staples such as rice at markets around Nigeria.
Unilateral border closures go against all commercial and freedom of movement treaties signed under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The closure has also cast a shadow over a historic free-trade agreement, signed by 54 out of 55 African countries that reached a key operational threshold in July. Nigeria, as well as Benin, had signed onto the pact on the eve of the landmark day — a move hailed as a crucial push towards ending the continent’s trade barriers.
In a related development, the comptroller-general of Nigeria Customs Service also disclosed that the Niger Republic has banned the exportation of rice to Nigeria in any form. Ali said Niger took the decision because Nigeria had closed its borders. “As a result of this border closure, Niger Republic has already circulated an order banning the exportation of rice in any form to Nigeria.”
Nigeria closed its borders to neighboring African countries in early August. President Buhari said the border closure was to tame massive smuggling activities. Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a statement said Buhari expressed great concern over smuggling activities. He noted that the activities of the smugglers were threatening the self-sufficiency feat of his government’s agricultural policies.
While Nigerians have expressed displeasure over the border closure which had caused a hike in the price of rice in Nigeria, Ali insists that the closure continues.
