Operating at the Seme Border, goods forwarders have written to the federal government to demand that the border be opened for the importation of vehicles.
In Seme, at a meeting between representatives of Nigeria and Benin organised by the Economic Community of West African States, Ibrahim Musa, Director of Road Transport, Federal Ministry of Transportation, revealed this.
During the former minister of state for transportation’s most recent trip to the border, he was contacted by freight forwarders, who requested that the border be reactivated, the speaker said.
He claimed the Federal Executive Council had given its approval to a memo that had been written and sent to the Federal Government in response to the request.
According to the director, FEC made a commitment to give the new administration full discretion over whether to approve the reopening of the border.
“I was here with the former Minister of State for Transportation, and the goods forwarders pleaded that the border be reactivated for the free flow of goods and services,” he recalled. We had to draught a memo in that direction as the minister demanded. The government was informed and sent it.
Dera Nnadi, the Customs Area Controller in charge of Seme Command, also spoke at the event. He said that since the importation of vehicles was prohibited from land borders, the service had noticed a decline in its revenue.
In response to some of our requests and those of the stakeholders, he said, “The Honourable Minister of Transportation, the immediately preceding one, promised to take them to the Federal Executive Council; one of them is how to fully open this border.”
According to Nnadi, the Nigerian Police Force’s Border Control unit has promised to remove all illegal checkpoints along the border corridors. Customs has already done this.
He urged the Federal Government to complete the highway from Lagos to the Seme Border, arguing that it would increase trade and investment along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor.
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The head of Seme Customs argued that the corridor is crucial for the expansion of trade, investment, cultural diversity, and peace in West Africa and all of Africa.
Comptroller Nnadi, who is also a co-chair of the Joint Border Post, stated that the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor is a crucial trade route for West African nations, serving as a crossroads where our people can meet and exchange ideas about culture and religion. It’s crucial for us to keep our relationships and our internal peace in this space. Keeping the corridor alive is crucial. We value ECOWAS’s contribution to the development of the corridor’s business community. Even though we commend the Federal Ministry of Transportation for their ongoing work on the road’s rehabilitation, we believe that once it is finished, trade will increase.
