The National President, Association of Micro-Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN), Prince Saviour Iche, has made a plea to the government to review some aspects of the border closure in the interest of businesses exporting their products to other parts of West Africa.
He told The Nation that the border closure was affecting revenue opportunities of cross-border businesses which cannot move goods to other parts of the West Coast without encumberances.
He said local manufacturers, who serve markets in the West African sub-region and access these markets by land, have been further traumatised as their losses and logistics challenges continue to mount.
The huge losses recorded by manufacturers are estimated to be in billions of naira, and this has been very devastating to the traders, most of whom are Nigerians.
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He said the border closure has affected local manufacturers who export their products to the (ECOWAS), and that continued closure has grave consequences on investments and jobs.
As suppliers of traded goods along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, he said the closure has affected even big manufacturers that supply processed and manufactured products accross-border markets in Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. The merits of the closure notwithstanding, Iche said it has adversely affected Federal Government’s trade commitment to West African countries, as well as threatened the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement.
As the border remains closed, the longest closure in about 40 years, Iche noted that it has blocked the trade of all goods.
He said exporters are the most affected group in the border closure, saying that some of the goods made for exports were still laying down at the border.
He explained that total land border closure may serve to defeat its main objective of supporting the exports industry and employment
His fears also were that if Nigeria’s land borders are not re-opened soon, its neighbouring countries may look to alternative suppliers to fill the gaps created by the closure.
He said exporters are creating jobs in Nigeria, and some of them have inventories sitting in their warehouse.
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