Nigeria raking N2million monthly on its borders after closure; AfCFTA Country Director reveals

This, according to the director, is because the border closure is raking the country some N2 million monthly since the action was taken.

Mr Afful said this while speaking on the ‘Business Focus” show on Accra based TV3.

He opined that no foreign policy can persuade the Nigerian authorities to open the borders for traders from neighbouring countries to enter into the country with their goods.

“The economic reasons why it’s closed is more stronger than any foreign policy that we are all talking about,” he said.

Background

The Nigerian government in August last year closed its borders to Benin and by extension, other West African countries, as part of measures to prevent the smuggling of cheap goods and weapons into the country.

The blockade has had a ripple effect on trade in the West African sub-region; compelling some to use alternative routes for their exports.

When this happened, Ghanaian Businesses who ferry their goods and services to cities in Nigeria and Benin, had their commodities locked out behind border gates.

Despite this, the Ghanaian traders saw the closure as a temporal blip to their businesses. Hence, they taught that authorities in their sister West African country were soon going to reopen its borders.

But to the surprise of these Ghanaian businesses, the Nigerian Government, later announced that it was extending the border closure to January 31, 2020.

Nigeria refuses to open border despite announcing its reopening last Friday

The Nigerian government has failed to open its border with Benin as promised last week Friday after months of closure.

This follows a memo signed and released by the Comptroller of its Immigration Service, Victor David Dimka last week disclosing that the government will open the border on Friday, January 31, 2020.

Despite the announcement, the Nigerian government failed to open the border.

No reason has, currently, been given to traders who work on the border.