The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Seme border command said on Saturday the nation’s major land border of Seme, will remain shut till 12pm on Sunday, 17th February 2019, pending any fresh directive from the Ministry of Interior.
Saidu Nuruddeen Abdullahi, spokesman of the Seme Customs, said there is a standing directive from the Ministry of Interior that the borders, after initial closure on Friday, should be reopened by noon of Sunday.
“In the light of the postponement of the elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the earlier directive on border closure still stands until we receive fresh directive to reopen the borders.
“If we don’t get any new directive to open the border, we will simply follow the existing directive which says that will should open the border by noon on Sunday,” he said.
Recall that the Ministry of Interior ordered the closure of the borders between Nigeria and Benin Republic as from Friday noon ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
Though the elections were later postponed on eve of the election day due to logistics reasons by INEC, the Seme Customs is yet to get directives to reopen the border.
