Not all of the nation’s borders have been reopened, according to acting comptroller general of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Wale Adeniyi.
He clarified the matter on Tuesday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa and addressing to state house reporters.
In an effort to reduce smuggling and increase domestic rice production, the country’s former president Muhammadu Buhari closed all land borders in August 2019.
Buhari commanded the immediate reopening of four land borders on December 6, 2020.
Speaking on the subject, Adeniyi noted that although a few strategically important crossings were reopened in 2022, a review is presently being conducted to determine the goals of the closure.
“Well, it is not true that all Nigerian borders have been opened. The status quo ante still exists in the borders. If you remember that the borders were completely shut down in 2018 up until 2022 when some selected strategic borders were reopened, that is still the situation as we speak,” he said.
“And this was why we had an ad hoc arrangement of a special unit coordinated by the office of the NSA (national security adviser) to enforce that border closure. But as we speak, about five of them have been reopened.
“Four were initially reopened and two more were opened after that. And that is still the situation. There are ongoing processes to review this situation against the objective of the border closure itself.
“And the processes are not yet completed. And of course, when the borders are reopened, it’s not going to be subject of rumour in any way.”
The acting comptroller-general said there are plans to visit the Republic of Benin to engage with the country’s customs administration as part of efforts to enhance border security and regional integration.
“The aim of the visit is to foster collaboration, address border security concerns, facilitate importation across the border, and explore technological solutions to complex border challenges,” he added.
‘Eradication Of Fuel Smuggling Might Take Time’
Addressing the issue of fuel smuggling despite the removal of the petrol subsidy, Adeniyi acknowledged that complete eradication may take time.
He said some border areas have reported seizures of fuel, adding that the rate of smuggling has considerably reduced.
He expressed hope that ongoing policies being implemented by the current administration would “completely” eliminate fuel smuggling across borders.
“Well, sometimes we just want to assume that because of the subsidy, the problem will evaporate one day. So the sense I was trying to create was that it might take some time before the issue of smuggling of fuel across the border will completely dissipate,” he said.
“So in some border areas, we had reports of seizures of fuel and that is what we heard. So it was the assumption generally, that because the fuel is now sold at N500 per litre it will be a disincentive for smuggling.
“But contrary to that, we have seen that they are smuggling it across the borders. The rate at which this is being smuggled has reduced considerably.
“And it is our hope that by the time we mix some of these other policies that government is working on, it will completely eliminate the problems of smuggling of fuel across borders.”
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