NIGERIA GIVES CONDITIONS TO REOPEN BORDERS WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES
*They must be escorted from the port directly to the designated entry point in the Nigerian border, presented to the Nigerian customs with their original packaging. Compromises will not be tolerated.
*Goods produced predominantly in ECOWAS member states must satisfy the ECOWAS rules of origin to avoid any possibility of downplay. Goods must be majorly produced in ECOWAS countries.
*If the goods are coming from outside ECOWAS, the value addition must be over 30 per cent for it to be accepted within the framework of the Economic Trade Liberalisation Scheme that ECOWAS countries have to promote trade among them.
*This is to avoid countries outside member states from exporting their goods into ECOWAS region repackaged, as though they are coming from an ECOWAS region.4. All warehouses along the shared borders of Nigeria must be dismantled.
*Goods being transported must be put in proper recognized packaging. No longer will we have goods of all shapes and sizes going through the borders. To maintain the best practices of those goods, an accepted condition for packaging will be established.
*In regards to free movements of persons, all persons moving through Nigerian borders must present themselves through recognized entry points and must have recognized travel documents (country passport).
Penpushing recalled that, the country’s borders have been closed for several weeks in a move the government said was to grow the local economy and reduce illegal importation, but the development has equally generated controversy in the economy.
The closure was condemned by many accusing the government of not providing palliatives to curb the expected rise in basic goods for families, while some also posited that the border closure violates Nigeria’s agreements within ECOWAS and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
Penpushing also reports that, in another development, some Nigerians commended the Federal Government initiative declaring that, the closure would help increase local production and use of made-in-Nigerian goods.
