Last Monday in London, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo made another case for Nigeria to reopen its land border to unrestricted West African trade. Should it? ROBERT EGBE examines how the closure has helped the country
YOU would have thought Abuja or Accra was a more likely venue than London to discuss West African matters with Nigeria, but Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo was not going to let an opportunity of being in the same place with President Muhammadu Buhari pass him by.
Last Monday on the sidelines of the just concluded United Kingdom-Africa Investment Summit 2020 in the British capital, Akufo-Addo implored Buhari to reconsider Nigeria’s border policy.
The Ghanaian leader requested a reopening of the closed borders, which, he said, was adversely affecting his country’s economy.
“The Nigerian market is significant for certain categories of business people in Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said.
It was not the first time Ghana would be seeking a reversal of the policy. Last October, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Botchwey, Minister of Trade, Allan Kyerematen and Ghana’s Acting High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs Iva Denoo had, visited Abuja to plead with Nigeria to reopen the borders with Benin Republic.
They were under pressure from pressure groups in their country, such as the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).
Effects of border closure
Immediately after the border restriction, hundreds of businessmen and their container-laden trucks were stranded at major points of entry into the country, especially at Seme and Idiroko. Importers found it hard to bring in rice, chicken, turkey and a number of others into the country.
Besides closing the borders, government also launched the ‘Exercise Swift Response,’ a joint border security exercise, to enforce the border closure.
Ghana may not share a border with Nigeria, but Akufo-Addo’s concern about the border measures was not for nothing.
An October 2019 report by Ghana Times says Nigeria ranks fourth among the top ten export destinations for Ghana, in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to which Nigeria belongs.
Since last August 21 when Nigeria restricted the movement of goods across its land borders in a bid to tackle smuggling, much of the ECOWAS states’ economies have been disrupted.
The decision has caused an economic shock, especially in Benin, Niger and Cameroon which share boundaries with Nigeria and also as far afield as Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and others that export to Africa’s most populous country.
The effects of the closure have been felt across all spheres of West African markets, not only in Nigeria, but also by traders elsewhere.
A 2018 World Bank estimate suggested that 80 per cent of imports into Benin are destined for Nigeria.
Rice traders in Benin Republic cities of Cotonou and Seme, for instance, have been hard hit. It was a common secret that until the closure, they mostly smuggled their goods into Nigeria, through porous Nigeria-Benin borders.
The border closure has also been said to have affected rice-production in some major Asian countries.
Neighbours’ case against Nigeria’s border measures
Nigeria’s neigbours have it all figured out. In their view, the border restrictions are illegal. Period.
They and some experts argue, for instance, that the measures are in breach of the 44-year protocol on the free movement of goods, services and people established by the ECOWAS.
Under the ECOWAS Protocol, member states committed to the establishment of a common market, including “the liberalisation of trade by abolition, among Member States, of customs duties levied on imports and exports, and the abolition, among Member States, of non-tariff barriers in order to establish a free trade area…”
There is also the reasoning that the border closure is inconsistent with Nigeria’s multilateral commitments, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which Nigeria signed last August.
They also contend that as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995, Nigeria is bound to comply with similar commitments at a multilateral level.
Fed Govt: Neighbouring countries are to blame
In its defence, the Federal Government has accused some of Nigeria’s immediate neighbours of not doing enough to curb the smuggling of illegitimate goods into Nigeria.
The government said some of the countries consistently failed to comply with the various agreements on transit of persons and goods, including the ECOWAS transit protocols and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS).
Responding to questions on the matter last December, Information Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed said: “Discussions on doing legitimate trade between Nigeria on one hand, and Benin and Niger on the other, started in 2005. The discussions have led to MOUs in 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, all designed to facilitate free movement of goods manufactured in their respective countries and work out the modalities through the Ministers of Trade of both countries for the realization of these objectives.
“It is worth noting that there has never been legitimate transit trade between Nigeria and the two countries (Benin and Niger). For clarity, the ECOWAS protocol on transit demands that when a transit container berths at a seaport, the receiving country is mandated to escort same without tampering with the seal to the border of the destination country. Unfortunately, experience has shown that our neighbours do not comply with this protocol.
“Rather, they break the seals of containers at their ports and trans-load goods destined for Nigeria from the original container to trucks. In most cases, five containers loaded onto one truck and duty paid as one truck.
“This improper trans-loading of transit goods makes it impossible to properly examine such goods, resulting in the importation of illicit goods, including arms and ammunition, without being detected. Because goods are not examined, misclassification and a resultant loss of revenue become the ultimate consequence of this illegitimate transit trade.
“As we speak, we have ships loaded with rice waiting to discharge (in Benin) and the target market is Nigeria (for Christmas). We have (MV Africana Jacana with 40,000 metric tons of rice, MV Zilos with 20,000 mts and MV Sam Jarguar with 45,000 MTS and others.”
Why border measures are necessary
But border closure in Africa is not unusual. Earlier this year, Sudan closed its border with Libya and the Central African Republic, and Kenya suspended cross border trade with Somalia—both for security reasons.
Rwanda also briefly closed its border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo following Ebola outbreaks.
The Federal Government identifies smuggling as the basic reason for its decision.
Smugglers bring in rice, tomatoes, poultry, and illicit weapons, and illicitly export cheaper, subsidised petrol from Nigeria to its neighbours.
President Buhari raised some of these issues in Nigeria’s defence during his conversation with the Ghanaian President.
Buhari told Akufo-Addo that dangerous hard drugs were also being freighted into the country through the land borders.
He said: “When most of the vehicles carrying rice and other food products through our land borders are intercepted, you find cheap hard drugs and small arms, under the food products. This has terrible consequences for any country. It is regrettable that the partial border closure is having negative economic impact on our neighbours, but we cannot leave our country, particularly the youths, endangered.”
He said Nigeria had remained the biggest victims of the influx of small arms into the Sahel region which also affects other countries like Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Buhari said a committee was working on the issue, adding that the borders would remain partially shut until all the issues are sorted out.
He added: “We will get things sorted out. Our farmers, especially those who grow rice, now have a market, and are happy. We are also concerned about hard drugs and weapons. Once the committee comes up with its recommendations, we will sit and consider them.”
The President’s observation is supported by facts.
According to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria some 10-20 per cent of Nigerian fuel is smuggled abroad.
In March 2018, a report by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) described Nigeria as West Africa’s illegal arms king.
It noted that Nigeria accounts for about 70 per cent of illegal small arms in the region.
A report, ‘CrimeJust: Fact Sheet Nigeria’ published by (CISLAC), said porous borders paves ways for free flow of arms in and out of Nigeria.
It was said to also contribute to increasing number of violent conflicts, constant human and drug trafficking which remain a challenge to authorities within and outside Nigeria.
Government efforts to control the situation from within alone have not been fully successful.
When Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris on February 21, 2018 directed the recovery of prohibited firearms, ammunition and weapons in the country, 6,527 firearms were recovered.
They included 671 AK-47 rifles, 594 pump action guns, 70 English Barreta pistols, 71 single and double barrel guns, 92 machine guns, one anti-air craft gun and 5,028 locally made guns, enough to start a small war.
Gains of border measures (for Nigeria)
Among other benefits of the closure, are a higher import revenue, lower domestic fuel consumption, curbing of arms smuggling for terrorism and banditry, reduction in the smuggling of goods and illicit drugs, reduction in illegal immigration and increased rice production by local farmers.
At a meeting with the National Assembly’s Committee on Finance and National Planning, last year, Comptroller General of the Nigerian Custom Service, Hammed Ali, praised the initiative. He said that it had opened unexpected economic doors to Nigeria.
“There was a day in September that we collected N9.2 billion… it has never happened before,” he said.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, also indicated that there had been a significant drop of eight million litres in fuel consumption, evidence of immense smuggling of petroleum products aided by Nigerian security personnel.
The entries of rice, cars, and chicken products with so many other goods and services that originate from neighboring African countries have also reduced drastically.
These and more fueled the Federal Government’s decision to keep the borders closed until the neighbours get their acts together:
To keep the momentum, the Federal Government also commissioned a joint task force comprising customs, immigration, police and the military to keep unrelenting check on the borders.
Alhaji Mohammed also noted that since the closure in August, the monthly import revenue, instead of recording a decrease, has increased by 15 per cent. He noted also that the consumption of fuel has dropped by 30 per cent due to reduced smuggling of petroleum products to neighbouring countries.
Mohammed added: “It is important to note that 95 percent of illicit drugs and weapons that are being used for acts of terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria today come in through our porous borders.
“However, since this partial closure, these acts have been drastically reduced. Our conclusion is that the arms and ammunition these terrorists and criminal elements were using no longer gain access into the country. In addition, the importation of the drugs which affect the well-being of Nigerians have equally been reduced.”
Corroborating his views, Director-General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, agreed that the closure of the Nigerian land borders had helped reduce arms smuggling.
He said in spite of the criticisms trailing the closure from some West African countries, the “closure of our borders so far has succeeded in checkmating not only smuggling of goods that are illegally brought into the country, even firearms and then checkmating the movement of people that are likely to undermine the security of this country.”
The Comptroller, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Oyo/Osun Command, Abdullahi Zulkifli, concurred with the assertion. He said the closure of the land borders by the Federal Government had reduced smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition into the country.
The Federal Government said the closure of the land borders also comes with economic gains for the country. It stated that the Nigeria Customs Service now generates up to N8 billion daily from N4.5 billion daily it was generating before the closure and the joint border patrol.
The border has also been a blessing for local rice farmers and businessmen trading in rice.
Stakeholders’ position
Some stakeholders have backed the border closure.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, for instance, noted that the closure has increased the demand for local rice, fish, chicken and textiles.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report quotes him as saying: “In the southern part of this country, people do not eat foreign rice anymore. In fact, you can perceive the aroma in the milling plants as opposed to the ones imported into the country that do not even add value to your health, that is not even nutritious.”
Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu, said the border closure was a right move.
“It is one of the few occasions that Nigeria has stood up to protect the interest of Nigerians. Yes we believe in good neighbourliness, but if we continue to listen to the cries of people who are shedding crocodile tears about the border closure, we will not be able to ensure that we develop policies deliberately to protect the interest of people that we are to protect.”
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