Shippers justify Customs joint border patrol

Recall that on Tuesday, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it will join other security, intelligence gathering  agencies to conduct a joint border security exercise, codenamed “EX-SWIFT RESPONSE”.

The operation is part of the measures put in place by the government to secure Nigeria’s land and maritime borders from smuggling and other nefarious activities.

Apart from the the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), other agencies include the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), in collaboration with the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) as well as the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other security and intelligence agencies .

The joint exercise is being coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and will take place in 4 geopolitical zones, namely; South-South, South-West, North-Central and North-West.

But, speaking to journalists, the President of SALS, Rev. Jonathan Nicol said even though the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) guarantee free movement, it doesn’t guarantee movement  without proper document.

He said, “The AFCFTA guarantee movement of people so also is the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) charter on trade and movement of personnel but that does not mean you will not have your passport to travel within the approved border lines.

“So, when it comes to goods and persons, there are conditions you need to meet just like if you want to do your export, you have to fill your Customs form, present it and pay your duty if necessary before you now move your goods.”

Nicol however disclosed that every country has the responsibility to protect its border from illegal dumping of goods and illegal migration.

According to him, banned substance such as tramadol and codeine are finding their way into the country through the porous borders.

His words, “every country has the right to protect its border line. A lot of us wanted FG to delay the signing of AfCFTA because if you look at it we are the most industrialised in the west and central Africa.”
“So the thing will backfire on Nigeria because most of the goods will be taken away from here and then imported back to Nigeria and it would be claimed to have been manufactured from other African countries.  In another word, Nigeria will lose out with time if AFCFTA is not properly handled.”
He stated further, “We understand that  banned drugs like tramadol and codeine, smugglers now use these routes as channels to bring them into the country and that is not too good for the security situation in the country and I think that brought about one of the reasons they embarked on the operation at the border lines so that those drugs can be controlled.”

The Shippers’ Boss agreed that the government would lose Customs revenue from the affected border command.

“The Federal Government will lose out so much since the borders have been shut to cargoes.  The Customs will not make so much money and the Seme and Idiroko borders will not make so much revenue as they used to do before because goods will not be coming in.
“Again, I’ll like to make personal appeal to the Government to look critically into this maritime sector. Either land borders, sea borders and all the authorised Government border posts where they place their Customs check points and they collect duties. Very critically, if importers are not protected, then goods will no longer come into this country.”
When contacted, the Customs National Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah reiterated that the border was not shut but rather restricted to only those with valid traveling documents.
He also said that stranded transit cargoes would soon be allowed to move in and out of the country.
“I want to reiterate that none of Nigerian borders is shut. It is opened to travellers with valid travelling documents and also, the restriction on transit cargoes would soon be lifted as it is part of the teething challenges faced in an operation,” he assured