The immediate past Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes and former member representing Yewa North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency of Ogun State, Hon. Kayode Oladele, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for reopening the country’s land borders.
He said the reopening was in response to repeated appeals by Nigerians and certain sections of the international community particularly trans-border experts within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).
The borders or crossing points affected by the federal government’s decision include the Seme crossing with Benin, the Magatari and Illela crossings with Niger and the Mfum crossing with Cameroon respectively while the country’s remaining borders are slated to reopen on Dec. 31.
Oladele, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, stated that reopening the borders, the federal has taken cognizance of its international obligations under various protocols and agreements,” adding that the “prolonged closure and protectionist policy could have hindered the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and hampered the principle of free movement of people, goods, and services under the Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) Protocol”.
“I know that no responsible government will give a laissez-faire attitude to the issue of smuggling but you will also agree with me that the decision to close the borders was centered around the macro-economic policy of government which greatly benefitted the country in terms of Customs receipts and sales of petroleum products and so on.
However, at the micro-level, the border communities and small scale industries who export their goods and services to the neighboring countries were mostly at the receiving ends. Therefore, I consider the government’s decision to reopen the crossing points as a response to the need to balance the equities and be fair to all.,” he said.
Oladele, who represented the border communities of Yewa North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency in Ogun State in the Eighth Assembly, also condemned the Tuesday incident at Ayetoro, headquarters of Yewa North LGA involving men of the Nigerian Customs Service and innocent citizens whom the Customs dubbed as smugglers as a result of which the Customs opened fired at them leading to loss of lives. According to Oladele, Yewa is constantly under siege due to the over-zealousness of the men of Customs and Excise who continue to harass the marginalise toiling inhabitants of the border communities on daily basis all in the name of curtailing smuggling.
He specifically frowned at the intimidation and indiscriminate killing of innocent Yewa people and other innocent Nigerians living at the border communities while carrying out their legitimate businesses.
“I’m from a Yewa, a border community and I witness these harassments all the time, my people are fast becoming stateless because of the way they are being treated by our security operatives, in particular, men of Customs and Excise”.
“We have lost so many of our people due to skirmishes with the men of Customs and Excise and border communities are constantly under siege.
“Every trading along the border is considered illegal and dubbed as smuggling by the Customs but they forget the fact that these law-abiding citizens have no other places to go and as Nigerians, they have inalienable, constitutionally guaranteed rights both for their welfare and their protection by the government.
It would be recalled that in August 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the closure of Nigeria’s land borders with her neighboring countries to tackle smuggling and enforce certain import restrictions.
