Fourteen months after the Federal Government gave a presidential directive for the reopening of closed land borders, Kebbi State border and some other land gateways are yet to be reopened.
The Federal Government had in August 2019 announced the closure of land borders, citing high rate of smuggling and others as reasons.
In December 2020, the government approved the recommendation of a presidential committee to reopen the Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfun borders in preparation for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
Speaking with The PUNCH on Monday, the Public Relations Officer of the Kebbi State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Nasiru Manga, cited the government’s fiscal policy as the reason the command’s border amongst others were yet to be reopened.
He, however, said the government was taking actions that were in the best interest of the country and the citizens.
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“If you can remember, you will recall that all the land borders in Nigeria are closed except four which are, Seme in Lagos, Elela in Sokoto, Maigatari in Jigawa and one in South-South. So it is only four land borders that are currently and officially opened. Idiroko too is yet to be opened” he said.
“This one is a matter of the government fiscal policy. You remember the reason the borders were closed, even though the borders are still closed. You know they have started opening them in bits. On whether the border closure has reduced the security risk, I am not authorised to speak on that” Manga concluded.
Meanwhile, the newly-appointed Customs Area Controller in charge of Kebbi State Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Joseph Attah, has charged officers and men of the command on the need to ensure strict compliance to government fiscal policy on imports and exports of goods.
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