The Nigerian government has made a commitment to reopen the Seme border to facilitate the importation of vehicles and other various goods.
This was aforementioned at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting between Nigerian and Benin officials.
Ibrahim Musa, Director of Road transport, Ministry of transportation, announced that the Nigerian government has approved the reopening of the Seme border.
This decision became imperative in response to concerns raised by freight forwarders operating at the Seme border regarding the importation of vehicles and other goods from neighboring West African countries.
“I was here with the former Minister of State for Transportation when the Freight Forwarders pleaded that the border should be reactivated for the free movement of goods and services.
The former minister made us prepare a memo to that effect. It was considered and sent to the government.” Ibrahim Musa emphasized while speaking with Eventville magazine.
Reaffirming on the decision, the Customs Area Controller of Seme Border Command, Dera Nnadi, noted that the service has observed a decline in revenue since the prohibition of vehicle imports through land borders.
Nnadi stressed. “The former Minister of Transportation, responding to some of our requests and those from stakeholders, assured us that he would present them to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), including the full reopening of this border.
“The Ministry has informed us that the memo has been prepared and adopted by FEC, and it will be handed over to the new government. He reassured us that all our requests have been adopted.”
In the meantime, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Seme Area Command expressed concerns about the significant impact of the prolonged border closure on revenue generation at the Seme border.
Comptroller Dera Nnadi, the Customs Area Controller of the Seme Command, shared these figures during a media briefing on the Command’s performance in the first quarter (Q1) and the handover of counterfeit $6 million to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as other seized items to partner government agencies at Seme, Badagry.
“The Command’s main source of revenue from import/export has not improved since the land borders were reopened as directed by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Traders are still grappling with the challenges of being out of business for over two years.” Comptroller Dera Nnadi disclosed.