Following the controversy generated from border closure, Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs has listed the conditions to be adhered to, for border reopening.
Nigerian land borders have been closed since Aigust 20, 2019 to put an end to illegal Importation of goods in order to grow the country’s economy.
However, neighbouring countries such as Ghana, Niger republic have been begging the Nigerian government to reconsider its decision.
Minister of Foreign Affairs has given a list of conditions these countries must meet before the Nigerian land Borders will be reopened.
Some of the conditions are;
- Goods must be majorly produced in ECOWAS countries.
- Any import coming from outside an ECOWAS region and imported into an ECOWAS member state must maintain its original packaging. 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.
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- 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).