One week into the “Exercise Swift Response’, the heat bites harder on Nigeria’s neighbouring countries, as economic activities are gradually grinding to a halt, MUYIWA LUCAS reports
Travellers on the Seme-Krake route have tales of woes to tell. The rigorous stop-and-search operation at all the over 12 roadblocks counted between Igboelerin and Seme axis presents more than enough pains for commuters. The roadblocks, mounted by men of the Customs, Immigrations, the police and Army, have created long queues of vehicles and passengers who ply the route. There are long queues of vehicles and human traffic arising from the intensive check at the Igbaji checkpoint.
With the intense searching, and security operatives pursuing smugglers into unconventional roads to effect the arrest, activities at the Seme-Krake border in the last week have further buttressed the position that smuggling activities are what makes the axis tick.
Nigerians, as well as other nationals at the border, have continued to groan in hardship over the ongoing exercise. From the Okada riders, transporters, currency traders (black market) to Cross-Border traders, tales of woes is on everybody’s lips.
When The Nation visited the Seme-Krake border on Wednesday, economic activities were at its lowest ebb. At the border post, the Customs scanner section remained closed, while petrol attendants at the ConOil filling station at the border were on holiday.
A visit to the ECOWAS building in Seme revealed the extremely low level of economic activities. At the immigration section of the building, less than 15 travellers were seen processing their travel documents either into or out of the country. Pedestrians trying to go through the border without valid travel documents were turned back at both ends.
Over 1000 trucks carrying different goods were also seen parked at the huge landmass around the ECOWAS building. The trucks were those waiting for clearance but the restriction of movement at the border. At the scanning section of the Customs, not a single consignment was seen, just as trucks parked at the examination bay of the Service were left unattended to. As a result of this, banking activities at the border is also suffering. With no duties to be paid, and travel restricted, the First Bank office at the border remained virtually on holiday yesterday.
A truck driver, Ibrahim Zana, said he and his colleagues have been stranded at the border since the restriction of movement commenced. He explained that some perishable items some of his colleagues conveyed from Benin republic have gone bad. He added that one of his colleagues require medical attention but cannot get the same because they have run out of cash.
Official position
Joseph Attah, Deputy Comptroller, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and National Public Relations Officer, said: “The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which is coordinating the exercise is already recording large numbers of seizures and arrests from the four sectors comprising the Northwest, Northcentral, South-West, and Southsouth geopolitical zones. As at 26th August 2019, 33 illegal migrants have been arrested while seizures include: 3,560-50kg bags of parboiled foreign rice; 59 bags of NpI (fertilizer); 15 vehicles; 12 drums filled with PMS; three engine boats; 61 drums of groundnut oil; four trucks; 75 gallons of PMS; 29 motorcycles; six gallons of vegetable oil; 70 jerricans of PMS; among other items,” he said in a statement.
or Attah, this feat is a positive for the operation, which is barely a week old and seen as a strong resolve by the Nigerian security agencies to better secure the country’s territorial integrity, particularly the land and marine borders against transborder security concerns. The exercise has led to the partial closure or restriction in movement between the country’s borders and those of the Republic of Benin, Niger and Chad as well as that of the Central African country of Cameroon.
The exercise, led by the NCS and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), in collaboration with the Armed Forces as well as the police and other Security and Intelligence agencies, may have started yielding dividend in terms of securing the country’s borders, but it has continued to inflict pains on the economy of not only Nigeria but also that of other neighbouring countries whose economy depends on that of Nigeria. The joint exercise is taking place in four geopolitical zones, namely; Southsouth, Southwest, Northcentral and Northwest.
Ripple effect
A peep across the border towards the Krake (Benin Republic) end also shows the near-comatose economic activity on the side. A Nigerian traveller from Togo, shortly after completing his documentation at the Nigerian Immigration, told The Nation that business activities from Togo are at a standstill. He said several trucks are parked at the entry points of the two countries of Togo and Benin Republic, waiting to enter Nigeria with their consignment.
Security sources at the Seme-Krake border told The Nation that the ongoing exercise has further shown that Nigeria is the main economic power of its neighbours. For instance, the sources explained that the ripple effect of the exercise in Nigeria has taken a toll on the price of petrol in the Benin Republic, which is said to have risen by about 150 per cent.
Already, sources from across the various borders warn that if the border closure continues, the Bennoise, Nigeriens and Chadians economies will be the worse for it. The situation is believed will be worse off in Republic of Benin, where the people are said to be getting agitated over the closure. This is for no other reason but the dwindling fortunes of their income.
Sources in security circles told this reporter that the flagrant disrespect for trade agreement led the Federal Government to decide on her borders. For instance, it is believed that the country had taken advantage of their business relationship with importers from Niger and Chad, both landlocked countries, to allow their transit cargos, particular, foreign parboiled rice, which pass through Benin Terminal, Cotonou and Bollere seaport, to end up in the Nigerian market. This has weakened the government’s resolve on the ban on foreign importation of some commodities into the country and disrupting the policy on local rice production.
t is worthy of note that the volume of rice importation into the Republic of Benin had risen over time. The country’s rice imports are handled by four multinational companies and between 20 to 30 smaller small rice importers. These importers include African Agro Foods, with Headquarters in Pan Lebanese Group, Dubai, United Arab Emirate, UAE, Di Fezi Fils, Sonam linked to the Stallion Group in Dubai, which also have an operational base in Lagos, and ABC Enterprises.
A breakdown of these companies share of rice import into the Benin Republic indicate that African Agro Foods Imports 360, 000 MT or 30 percent of the rice needed in the country; Di Fezi Fils, 300, 000 MT or 24 percent; Sonam, 240,00 MT and 20 percent ABC enterprises, 10,000 MT or one percent while other rice importers bring into the country 290,000 or 24 percent of the total rice imports of the country.
ith a small population, experts explained that the country can’t consume such volume of rice. Since June 2015, market watchers say, rice imports into the Benin Republic has increased tremendously, finding its way into the Nigerian market notwithstanding that the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN), led by Godwin Emefiele, included the prohibition of foreign exchange to rice and 43 other products. Virtually all the parboiled rice imports into the Republic of Benin are smuggled into the Nigerian market through unapproved routes.
A Nigerian returning from Togo, en route Benin, who simply identified himself as Fatai, explained that the economy of Togo and Benin Republic are already in comatose as a result of the situation. He disclosed that some consignment of bulk rice cargoes that had arrived at the Benin terminal and Bollere ports are still waiting to be discharged. He said practically all the warehouses in the two countries are filled with rice awaiting evacuation to Nigeria.
Similarly, across the other regions, a report by The Value News, an online publication, has it that indigenes of the Border Communities in the Northwest and Northeast are also severely hit by the exercise. The report says that from Matamaye, Magarya, Babura, Mai mujiya, Tikim, and other Border communities in Kano and Jigawa states which fall within the Zandar region directly linking Niger and Nigeria in the south, are now a shadow of itself: low economic activities of buying and selling of traded goods.
According to the report, Nigerien traders’ major worries was that between Wednesday, August 23 when the exercise starts and now, they have not been able to access the ancient city of Kano, which is the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria, to buy goods because of the tight security. It is imperative to say that it is only from these border communities that transit cargoes from Benin could be supplied Niger.
A bureau de change operator, who identified himself as Gilli, a resident of Amaimujiya, a border community, said his business had been at the lowest ebb since last Wednesday when the exercise began.
‘’My Bureau de Change business has virtually closed because of lack of patronage,’’ he said.
Nigerians also cry
he lawmaker representing Badagry constituency in the House of Representatives, Babatunde Hunpe, has urged residents to remain calm and supportive over the ongoing Joint Border Security Exercise in the area.
“It is not only the Seme border that is affected by the Federal Government’s directive, but it also affects many communities in 25 states across Nigeria. I want to appeal to my people to let peace reign by going about their normal daily activities peacefully. Badagry communities should cooperate with the special task force created by the Federal Government to enable them to achieve their aims,” Hunpe said.
Ignoring the ECOWAS treaty?
But while the focus is on security, the promoters of the partial closure of the border, or restriction of movement at the border, as Attah prefers to call it, seem to have ignored the breach of trade agreements between ECOWAS countries.
Trade and market integration are at the heart of ECOWAS’ aims and objectives. Article (3) of the Revised Treaty of ECOWAS stipulates the removal of trade barriers and harmonisation of trade policies for the establishment of a Free Trade Area, a Customs Union, a Common Market and an eventual culmination into a Monetary and Economic Union in West Africa.
The ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) adopted in 1979 with an agreement on agricultural, artisanal handicrafts and unprocessed products, and extended to industrial products in 1990, is the main framework for trade and market integration in ECOWAS as it addresses protocols on the free movement of goods, persons and transportation. The ETLS main pursuit of consolidating the free trade area is guided by the National Approval Committees that informs the member States.
For this purpose, ECOWAS established an ETLS website to ease harmonisation and usage of it. In this regard, ECOWAS thus implemented a Customs and Connectivity programme to simplify the movement of goods in the region. The ECOWAS Common External Tariff has thus been operational since 2015. Moreover, member states are increasingly implementing the ECOWAS Single Customs Declaration Form for their customs administrations. The World Bank-sponsored Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme for Benin and Nigeria is one such example. Burkina Faso and Togo are likewise operationalising the scheme. Nevertheless, there are said to be challenged in regards to poor domestication of the ETLS, which needs to addressed for deepened trade and market integration in the ECOWAS region.
But how long will this calmness remain given the increasing economic hardship being experienced? Are there no means of ensuring security while trade continues? Time, only time, will tell.