By Joshua Yousouph
Clearing agents operating at the land borders in Lagos and Ogun states as well as residents of those communities have lamented the devastating impact of years of border closure on their economic activities. despite the reopening of the land borders about two years ago.
Recall that in December 2020, the Presidency announced the immediate re-opening of the first four major land borders which included Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfon.
In April 2022, the Federal Government also approved the second phase of the reopening of the remaining four land borders at Idiroko, Jibia, Kamba and Ikom. This is coming a few years after shutting the land borders due to the incessant smuggling of arms and different contraband.
However, findings by one of our correspondents who visited the Seme border recently revealed that despite two years of its reopening, economic activities still remain dull.
A market woman who spoke to our correspondent said she has no other source of income or livelihood to feed her family of five hence, she has no choice than to smuggle in small parcels of foreign parboiled rice and to sell.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily, a clearing agent and Board of Trustees Secretary of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), Mr Innocent Elum, he noted that, the business activities for clearing agents in Seme have incredibly gone low as importers no longer make use of the land borders.
He blamed this on increased double taxation faced by importers at the Seme border.
He maintained that the government did not get it right by closing the borders, even as he added that the closure only snowballed into an increase in the smuggling of foreign rice, petroleum products and cars through unapproved routes.
The AREFFN chieftain, however, called on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency lift the ban placed on the importation of automobiles through the land borders, which according to him is a policy which is more destructive than constructive.
“At the Seme border here, the basic question we have as Customs agents is lack of jobs because of the policies of the governments of both countries, that is Nigeria and Benin Republic.
“Import at the moment is not coming through the border posts. Nigeria closed its border without proper information to other countries that are also stakeholders in the corridor.
“Those countries particularly the Benin republic felt that it was not properly carried along by the Nigerian government and it gave the country some economic discomfort in terms of the trade relationship between these countries before the border was closed. Now that the border is open, the Benin republic is also saying if they could survive the temporary closure of the Border by the Nigerian government, it means they had to assert their independence thereby putting policy measures that are not really favourable to Nigerian importers.
“We have more exports which encourage a favourable balance of trade. The issue here is that there’s still no cargo throughput coming from the other side and there is still no basis for comparison between what we export through the border and what we export. Basically, the problem we have is the lack of cargo coming in through the border.
“As freight forwarders, we believe the government did not get it right by closing the borders because the reason advanced for the closure is even on a greater scale than what it was when the border was closed. The smuggling of petroleum products is on a high scale. It is an open secret that people who have been affected by the closing of the border whose business and livelihood have been affected have nothing to do again than to make recourse to take PMS across the border to sell and feed their families.
“The ban should be lifted because automobiles are still being smuggled and even greater than it was before the border was closed. We have had experiences of brand-new vehicles coming in through the unapproved routes at the border. If they lift the ban, it will encourage importers because no one likes doing the wrong thing except they are pushed to the wall” Elum concluded.
Also speaking, the Seme Chapter Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Onyekachi Ojinma noted that the Benin Republic is having a payback time by levying indiscriminate charges on transit goods to Nigeria, due to the fact that it was not carried along in the border closure.
Ojinma also decried the multiple checkpoints created by government agencies at the corridors of the Seme border, stating that it has been a major tool for extortion, thereby making the business to be unfriendly to importers and exporters. He also informed that many importers and exporters have migrated to the Idiroko border where business seems to be more friendly compared to Seme
But, the Idiroko Chapter Chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Alhaji Shina Ibrahim told Shipping Position Daily that economic activities at Idiroko are also on a low pace as they only get a few exports too.
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He said the Nigeria policy does not allow non-containerized cargo from the land borders.
Another stakeholder, Alhaji Shina Ibrahim however debunked allegations that vehicles are being smuggled in through the Idiroko border. He noted that neighbouring countries do not transit through Idiroko, but through the Niger Republic.
In his words: “Nothing is going on presently at the border here in Idiroko due to the policies of the Federal Government of Nigeria. All the agents are doing nothing here presently. It is only export business that does come in once in a while. Nigeria policy does not allow import presently, because they said anything coming to the border must come through containers.
Speaking on vehicle smuggling, he said, “that is a big lie. Our counterpart countries don’t do transit to Idiroko, what they do is transit to Niger. All that information they are giving to you is false information” Ibrahim concluded.
On the part of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the spokesman of the Seme Customs Command, Mr Hussaini Abdullahi noted that the border has only one route with a controlled entry and exit hence, the command has been able to suppress smuggling activities to a minimal level.
Speaking on the issue of double taxation, Abdullahi said the Command has sent letters to inform the headquarters of the NCS and the management is working on modalities on how to resolve the issue.
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