Acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has promised to rationalize multiple checkpoints along the border communities so as to boost bilateral trade and good diplomatic relationships between Nigeria and its border communities along the axis.
Adeniyi who made the promise in his address during a working visit to the Seme Command of the NCS and Seme-Krake Border communities on Friday, June 21, 2023, also called on the all stakeholders to collaborate with the government so as to achieve desired results.
He noted that there are numerous trade and economic benefits for Nigeria within the ECOWAS region hence the reason why NCS is moving beyond what will constitutes major hindrances in its activities.
The Customs CG also noted that the service is in collaboration with their foreign counterparts towards improving and developing better bilateral trade relations driven by technology. He added that the service seeks to achieve these through the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In his words: “We are working with other security agencies to see how we can rationalize the checkpoints. I also want to challenge you that National Security is not the responsibility of government agencies alone. This is the difference between us and our counterparts in West Africa. National Security is the business of every citizen. As you make life easier for business, I want to charge you to make the work of the security agencies easier.
“The criminals who bring drugs, arms, and ammunition into the country live around us. What we can do to help our national security is to help us with credible information and intelligence to catch these criminals. They are our enemies they don’t mean good for us.
“I will be engaging other agencies to see how we can streamline the number of checkpoints. We are also in talks as regards the borders that are closed. We would be reviewing the policies bothering on national security. It is a continuous process and more borders will be opened along the line.
“When it comes to border security management, the Customs plays a very important role. But of course, we know that we cannot play this role successfully without collaborating with other agencies that also have their mandates in and around the borders.
“We are already familiar with the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme, which hosted 30 years ago. While we are grappling with this, other parts of the world, the made significant progress. What this portends for us is that while we trade with other regional blocs outside our areas, we still have to define our economic prosperity in the framework of the trade that we conduct between ourselves” CGC Adeniyi stressed.
In his remark, the Area Comptroller of the Command, Comptroller Dera Nnadi said “several factors have been adjudged to hamper trade (between Nigeria and her proximate neighbour) within the sub-region especially transit trade across the countries and along the corridor.”
He however declared that “the revenue target for the Command for the year 2023 is One Billion Nine Hundred and Sixty Million Niara. As at end of transactions on Thursday, 20 July 2023, the Command has collected One Billion Three Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Thirty Seven Naira Seventy Five Kobo (N1,320, 582,937.57) representing sixty-seven percent (67 per cent) of our given target.”
Dignitaries at the event include, the Executive Chairman of Badagry West Local Government, Mr Onilude Olusegun, representatives from all security agencies in Nigeria and Benin Republic and traditional rulers in and around Badagry and Seme-Krake communities.
By Ajibola Adedoye