After many months of campaign by BusinessDay and 14 months after the border closure, President Muhammadu Buhari, at Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, directed the immediate re-opening of four land borders – Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfun.
Bashir Ahmad, one of the presidential spokespersons, quoted Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, as saying that Seme in Lagos, Illela in Sokoto, Maigatari in Jigawa and Mfun in Cross River have been reopened, while others will be reopened before December 31, 2020.
Analysts believe the move is in readiness for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which begins January 1, 2021.
Ahmed, who disclosed this after the weekly virtual FEC meeting, however, said restriction on the importation of some commodities like rice and other products would continue to be enforced.
Speaking after the meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,
The minister announced that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the recommendations of the committee that was chaired by her.
The committee also had Minister of Trade and Investment, Minister of Interior, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Security Adviser and Comptroller General of Customs, as members.
The committee was mandated to review and advise on the reopening of the Nigerian borders, and after recommendations, the President approved the reopening of four land borders.
“So, these four land borders will be reopened immediately while the remaining borders are directed to be reopened on or before 31st of December, 2020.
“Mr President has also directed on the reopening of the borders, while others are being reopened, the ban on importation of rice, poultry and other banned products still subsists and will be implemented by border patrol team,” she said.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, listed what he described as “many advantages to the border closure.
“It has given the security agencies an opportunity to access the problems at the borders, particularly with regard to smuggling.
“As you are all aware before the border closures a lot of petroleum products were being smuggled out from the borders to West African countries, and the border closure has created a situation that has tactically stopped it.”
He revealed that the Nigeria security agencies had been able to calculate the amount of petroleum products being smuggled out by calculating the amount being lifted now compared to what was being lifted before.
Adebayo, who noted that the issue of smuggling of rice to the country has reduced drastically, added that “we are hoping that our agencies will be able to sustain that so also is the issue of poultry smuggling.
“Also very important is the issue of importation of small arms and weapons into the country; that also has stopped.
“We are hoping and we are sure that this time around, our security agencies will be able to see that that doesn’t reoccur again. These are the issues that caused the closure of the borders in the first place and we have been able to put a stop to them.”
Read Also: Rescue of kidnapped Kankara school boys tops agenda as FEC meets
