LAGOS – The partial border closure by the federal government will ultimately affect balance of trade between Nigeria and neighbouring countries, the National President of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Ujunwa Tony Nwabunike has said.
He disclosed this in a chat with Journalists on Monday describing the situation as unhealthy for the country trade and economy.
“The border closure, least we forget affects legitimate businesses especially of Nigerians involved in import and export business. I also believe Nigeria is not ready for trade in Africa after signing a treaty recently on trade liberalisation in Africa”
“The unfortunate thing about the border closure is that Customs keep saying they are making huge seizures of smuggled goods and humongous arrest of smugglers and one needs to evaluate all these to ascertain the real situation”, he said.
The ANLCA boss also revealed that following the border closure, country like Benin has established a rail link with fellow francophone country Niger which is 80% completed.
According to him, kwara, Kogi and others have over 1000km unmanned pararel border lines with neighbouring countries where some of the prohibited goods are smuggled into the country.
He advise that Nigeria should standardize its trade as to mitigate the spate of smuggling.
