In a bid to fight the menace of smuggling across their national boundaries, Nigeria, Togo and the Republic of Benin have set up a tripartite committee against smuggling.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, Ambassador Kayode Oguntuase who disclosed this at the Regulatory Environment Roundtable organized by the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos yesterday said that the committee was set up in view of the fact that the three countries had realized that smuggling did no good for any of the countries.
Oguntuase who revealed that the committee was recently set up in Abuja however observed that the committee was still at the preliminary stage of putting things together even as he assured that it would hopefully become operational before June this year.
In his words,” The relationship between Nigeria and Benin Republic has been quite very cordial and traditionally, we are the same people sharing the same border, speaking the same language, even our thinking. Forget about whether somebody is speaking English or whether the other one is speaking French but the attitudes are the same and therefore, there is every reasons for us to get ourselves integrated in terms of economy. We are in the same economic zone, we are member of ECOWAS, we are member of Co-Prosperity Alliance Zone and we are also member of Lagos –Abidjan Corridor.
“So, all those are framework for integration and the only problem we have is this issue of smuggling which is spoiling trade between the two countries and it is not helpful for both countries because in the process, we are losing revenue, they are also losing but we have come into an agreement, we are setting up what will be called a tripartite committee; Nigeria, Togo and the Republic of Benin because we realized that sometimes, some people will tell us that their goods are going to Benin Republic and they are allowed to go but before you know it, they are diverted to Nigeria”.
Speaking on barriers to trade within the ECOWAS sub region, he decried the number of road blocks encountered by trans-border traders along the Nigerian side of the Lagos-Abidjan corridor describing it as a disincentive to trade.
He said,” That has been a major problem and the Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Amaechi was in Benin Republic to attend the Lagos-Abidjan Corridor and one of the highlights was that Nigeria is having too many road blocks. Of all the member countries, that we are having very close to seventeen whereas a country like Benin Republic has no road blocks while a country like Togo only has four and Ghana has none.
“So, I think our law enforcement agencies need to work harder because some of these road blocks are making the ease of doing business difficult”.
On whether Nigeria should sign the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, Ambassador Oguntuase said,” We must be very careful on what we sign. That is why government is looking into it properly. Government is in the right position to know whether to sign or not to sign but what we know is that anything that will not be profitable for Nigeria; we know that our government will not put hand into it. Even Benin Republic is copying us; they are also trying to study it. I realized that they are also trying to study the AFCFTA; they have not also signed it”.
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