Border closure: ECOWAS countries reject Nigerian goods

as experts weigh its impact


Notwithstanding the revenue increase the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, said
it has achieved with the on-going partial border closure, exporters are counting
their losses as countries within the Economic Community of West African
States, ECOWAS, sub-region have started rejecting Nigerian cargoes, apparently,
as a form of retaliation against the land border closure.
This latest development, according to the exporters, is gradually crippling their
businesses.
In a chat with Newsmen Chief Executive Officer, Multi-mix
Academy, an export oriented institution, Dr. Obiora Madu, disclosed that
Nigerian exports within the ECOWAS region is decreasing due to the border
closure, but he failed to give figures.

He stated: “It is definitely impacting negatively on the economy as the exports
done within the ECOWAS region and our neighboring countries are now in
decrease. These countries that benefit from the open border, since we have
closed it, even though we used to export to them before, you don’t expect to
get the level of cooperation that we are getting before because they are hit
hard by these closed borders”.
He further admitted that exporting generally is becoming difficult as cargoes
are now undergoing careful examinations before leaving the shores of the
country. This, he said, has also impacted negatively on the volume and speed
of export.
“The fact is that it definitely has impact on volume, it will also impact on speed
and it will not be as swift as it used to be because of scrutiny”.
In the same vein, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Institute of Export Operations
and Management, IEOM, Ofon Udofia, who spoke with Vanguard Maritime
Report, revealed that the country is losing a lot of money as most of the
country’s products have these West African nations as export destinations.
He stated: “It is a big problem. We are losing money because when we talk
about exporting goods, we are not only talking about exporting it to countries in
Asia, Europe or America. We are also talking about exports taking place within
the West African sub-region.
“We in the private sector, are victims of this border closure. Take a look at
companies like Unilever, they supply goods to other African countries through
Nigeria and for many years, they make use of the land borders.
“We have lost a lot of money because of this. Even Dangote who exports
cement to Benin Republic has lost a lot”.
On making use of the waterways to transport these cargoes, Udofia argued that
it is not yet feasible as Nigeria doesn’t have any national vessels that ply the
Western Coast.
He added that the cost of shipping these goods will increase as the
International shipping lines will be triggered to charge extra cost for shipments.
“Even when they say we can make use of the sea, do we have vessels? We
don’t have vessels plying the West Coast or even a vessel that can carry the
volume of what we are exporting.
“Even Maerskline Shipping Company, MSC, or any other international shipping
line that will pick products from Nigeria and take it to these West African
countries must charge extra fees.
“This is because we don’t have any shipping line. Which flag are we flying, we
are just deceiving ourselves. When they said that we should use inland
waterways for export, we are still negotiating on how we can partner with
shipping lines and the ship is already in Nigerian waters, but we have to pay
five percent duty of the cost of that vessel before it comes”.
Udofia also blamed government for not planning ahead of time before taking
drastic decisions on such sensitive economic policy.
“This is not what you do over night because we are unprepared. Shipping is not
like going to a market to buy a trailer, it goes beyond that. We are talking about
shipping line that will be going across West and Central Africa which we don’t
have, and it’s possibility is still in question”, he concluded.