Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at a recent event, stressed that smuggling remained a “serious threat” to the Nigerian economy. “We are making the point to our neighbours that smuggling is an existential threat, we can’t permit the level of smuggling going on,” he declared. He further informed the gathering that he had been asked by President Muhammadu Buhari to lead a team to work out what needed to be done.
Indeed, smuggling of imported materials into the country through the seaports in neighbouring countries has been a long-standing challenge to the Nigerian economy. From textiles to rice and poultry products, Nigeria has become a dumping ground for all manner of cheap and often substandard products. This has severe consequences for local industries that are struggling to survive. Dumping makes it impossible for the local industries to break even, let alone make profit. Some of these substandard products constitute severe hazards to the health of Nigerians who consume them. It is the responsibility of the government to take effective measures to curb these illegal activities which benefits some of Nigeria’s neighbours.
Underscoring severity of the problem, Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, at another event, emphasised the need to address the problem of smuggled poultry products, a move that is essential to boosting poultry production and support industries in Nigeria. The Federal Government has made special intervention programmes in rice and wheat cultivation but the dumping of these products through smuggling has undermined the efforts. Currently, about 70 per cent of rice and wheat consumed in Nigeria is smuggled through the land borders.
Nigerians consume three million metric tonnes of parboiled rice annually, most of which come through the seaports of some of its neighbours as shipments from Thailand and other rice-exporting countries. These neighbours have large warehouses where the products are stored and eventually smuggled into Nigeria. These illegal cross-border activities and other organised trans-border crimes occur because the borders are not effectively manned and policed.
Seme border between Nigeria and Benin Republic is about 809 kilometres long and has several illegal routes through which goods, including hard drugs, are smuggled into Nigeria. These illegal activities continue to occur in spite of the fact that over 19 checkpoints are mounted by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the police.
Without effective policing of the borders, fiscal policy will continue to fail, hence everything must be done to stop smuggling and dumping of products in Nigeria, including the building of border walls. Under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the border entrance with Benin Republic was closed as a result of the trans-border crimes originating from Benin, and former President Boni Yayi had to beg and commit to dealing with the pressing issues before the border was reopened. To secure its borders, Nigeria needs to build walls, beginning from the Republic of Benin and touching other neighbouring countries. These walls will be fitted with appropriate technology and border control systems to prevent the smuggling of goods and illegal movement of persons. The Federal Government could start with the southwest flank that it shares with Benin Republic and then cover other consequential land borders.
Building the wall would not violate the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol, as there would be gates for easy entry and exit for legal trade in goods and services and free movement of persons. The wall is designed to enforce government’s fiscal policy and put an end to illegal and criminal activities. Apart from securing the borders, the revenue generated would be far higher than the cost of building the wall.
Nigeria’s land borders are about 4,477 kilometres. Building walls across this length of land would be insignificant compared to the value that will be added to trade and taxes arising from the effective control of the borders. Nigeria’s border with Cameroon is the longest at about 1,975 kilometres. Its border with Niger is 1,608 kilometres. But these two countries do not have seaports and are not the major sources of smuggling and other activities that sabotage the Nigerian economy. The Federal Government should go beyond preachments and begin to build the walls.
Building of walls across borders to control entry and exit of goods and persons is practised globally as governments seek to protect the health of citizens and the economy. Today, 65 countries have either completed such walls or have them under construction. India is building a 4,000-kilometre barbed-wire fence around Bangladesh. Walls and fences are ever more popular with politicians wanting to look tough on migration and security. In July 2017, Hungarian government began building a four-metre-high fence along its border with Serbia to stop the flow of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are constructing border fences in a bid to keep out jihadist groups next door in Somalia, Iraq and Syria. The fence in Turkey, when completed, will eventually stretch to 45 kilometres along a key stretch of its border with Syria. The multi-layered fence, which will one day stretch to 965 kilometres from Jordan to Kuwait along Saudi’s border with Iraq, is being built as a line of defence against ISIS. Nigeria needs to act now.
