Wale Adeniyi, acting comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), says not all borders in the country have been reopened. 

He made the clarification on Tuesday while speaking to state house correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari had, in August 2019, shut all land borders in the country as part of efforts to curtail smuggling and boost local production of rice. 

On December 6, 2020, Buhari ordered the immediate reopening of four land borders. 

Speaking on the issue, Adeniyi said while selected strategic borders were reopened in 2022, a review is currently underway to assess the objectives of the closure. 

“Well, it is not true that all Nigerian borders have been opened. The status quo ante still exists in the borders. If you remember that the borders were completely shut down in 2018 up until 2022 when some selected strategic borders were reopened, that is still the situation as we speak,” he said. 

“And this was why we had an ad hoc arrangement of a special unit coordinated by the office of the NSA (national security adviser) to enforce that border closure. But as we speak, about five of them have been reopened. 

“Four were initially reopened and two more were opened after that. And that is still the situation. There are ongoing processes to review this situation against the objective of the border closure itself. 

“And the processes are not yet completed. And of course, when the borders are reopened, it’s not going to be subject of rumour in any way.”

The acting comptroller-general said there are plans to visit the Republic of Benin to engage with the country’s customs administration as part of efforts to enhance border security and regional integration.

“The aim of the visit is to foster collaboration, address border security concerns, facilitate importation across the border, and explore technological solutions to complex border challenges,” he added.

‘ERADICATION OF FUEL SMUGGLING MIGHT TAKE TIME’

Addressing the issue of fuel smuggling despite the removal of the petrol subsidy, Adeniyi acknowledged that complete eradication may take time. 

He said some border areas have reported seizures of fuel, adding that the rate of smuggling has considerably reduced. 

He expressed hope that ongoing policies being implemented by the current administration would “completely” eliminate fuel smuggling across borders.

“Well, sometimes we just want to assume that because of the subsidy, the problem will evaporate one day. So the sense I was trying to create was that it might take some time before the issue of smuggling of fuel across the border will completely dissipate,” he said. 

“So in some border areas, we had reports of seizures of fuel and that is what we heard. So it was the assumption generally, that because the fuel is now sold at N500 per litre it will be a disincentive for smuggling. 

“But contrary to that, we have seen that they are smuggling it across the borders. The rate at which this is being smuggled has reduced considerably. 

“And it is our hope that by the time we mix some of these other policies that government is working on, it will completely eliminate the problems of smuggling of fuel across borders.”

The Cable