The decision to reopen the border came in response to complaints raised by freight forwarders who are active at the Seme border.
By Denyefa Otuku:
Ibrahim Musa, the Director of Road Transport in the Ministry of Transportation, revealed that the Federal Government has granted approval for the Seme border to be reopened specifically for vehicle imports.
Musa made this announcement during an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting, which brought together officials from Nigeria and Benin. The decision to reopen the border came in response to complaints raised by freight forwarders who are active at the Seme border.
The director, who spoke at the ECOWAS Monitoring Team’s visit to the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post, said: “I was here with the former Minister of State for Transportation when the Freight Forwarders pleaded that the border should be reactivated for the free movement of goods and services.
“The former minister made us prepare a memo to that effect. It was considered and sent to the government.”
In addition, Dera Nnadi, the Customs Area Controller of the Seme Border Command, remarked that the customs service has observed a decline in revenue following the prohibition of vehicle imports through land borders.
Nnadi said: “The former Minister of Transportation, responding to some of our requests and from the stakeholders, promised to take them to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, one of them is how to fully open this border.
“The Ministry has informed us that the memo has been written to FEC and it was adopted and that it would be given to the new government, he assured us that all the requests were adopted.”
