Honestly i give kudos to the Government for the initiative but my concern is the timing is inappropriate.closing the border is not the issue .what the Government ought to have done is develop a mechanism that will improve our local industries in the production line, sponsor our agricultural sector, and monitor and control the price to the end buyers.these will go a long way .

This policy took off because Nigeria wants indigenous rice farmers to make hay and reap the fruits of their labour,
Benin became one of the world’s top importers of rice because of its Nigerian market. Almost all of the rice it imported from Thailand, Indonesia etc found its way to Nigeria through the Seme border without paying the necessary import duties.


Do you know that most of the cargoes that used to go to Benin (Republic), shipped to Benin, and then discharged and smuggled into Nigeria, now that we have closed our border they are forced to bring their goods to either Apapa or Tin Can Island and we have to collect duties on them.
If that would continue then, it is a welcome situation. As a matter of fact, our revenue has not reduced, it is increasing as a result of closing the border."
Nigeria customs has been making between N4.7 billion to N5.8 billion daily--more than the agency used to generate before the closure.

lexy2014:


Trumps wall isn't d same thing as closing d US/Mexico border. There is a fence built across d length of d US/Mexico border. D fence is meant to deter migrants from crossing into d US illegally. Trumps plan is turn that fence into a wall.

There are two types of border entries. Legal border points of entry& illegal border points of entry. Every border has a checkpoint which screens who is leaving d country and coming in. D border checkpoint which is d legal point of entry. It has nothing to do with Trumps wall. What buhari did was to close all Nigeria's land legal points of entry.

Primarily Trump's policy is fighting illegal migration, while Buhari's policy is fighting illegal smuggling through our borders.

So why is it that those Nigerians who keep hyping Trump's policy are mostly the same people against Buhari's policy?

mrvitalis:
I look at sustainability of any policy and this is not sustainable ...can we close our borders for 5 years or 10 years or 25 years

Buhari like most Nigerians like treating the symptoms not root cause

The problem is we import foreign rice

Root cuase
1) our local grains are short Nigerians prefer longer grain
2) our yield are small average 1 ton per hectare while Thailand is 10ton per hectare
3) we have evil birds that can eat up ur farm in few days ...eat everything

Closing border is like forcing ur child to listen to radio because he goes to the next compound to watch TV which he love .

My solutions
1) we need to develop our seeds ...Jonathan government did a lot on this regard don't know why they were not continued ...we need to develop long grains

2) develop grains that yeild between 6 to 10 tons per hectare ...n can be planted 2 to 3 times a year

3) give loans to major rice farmers already to expand

4 ) develop ways to handle those evil birds ...we can learn from iseral

Create rice farming villages

Place 50% import duty on rice imported use the money to fund the above

In 5 years we can achieve full sufficiency then u can ban import

You took these words out of my mouth ( or keypad in this context). Closing the border is a good decision, implemented st the wrong time. The best would have been to attain self- sufficiency before taking this action.

obi58:


Thank you for the big English you have written up there but it does not go to the root of the problem.

The question that you should be answering is WHY importers prefer to ship their goods meant to Nigeria to Benin first and then smuggle them into the country?

Be it used cars, rice, used clothes etc duty paid in Benin is much cheaper hence the preference to berth their goods there. So why doesn't the government cut down the duty paid at our borders to make it economically unviable for an importer to ship goods to Benin when same are meant for Nigeria? Instead we choose to close the land borders? Are our customs officers not at the borders? What then is their job if they are unable to effectively Police our borders? Everyday we talk about millions of litres of fuel imported for the Nigerian people being diverted to neighbouring countries and that with the closure of the borders daily demand for fuel has dropped by 8 million litres so why has this diversion been happening right under the noses of the customs if they are not complicit in the smuggling activities themselves.

Finally back to the rice issue.... In case you don't know, with the border closure rice is now scarce not just foreign rice but local rice. Both have gone up in the market by over 50%! What steps are government taking to ensure local rice is not just sufficiently produced to meet domestic demand but at cheaper prices than foreign substitutes?

Can we close our land borders forever?

Exactly what I ask. Mark you this is not the first time our borders have been closed or imports restricted. Good as the initiative may be, but to me it amounts to no more than putting a plaster on a bleeding wound and going home. It does not address the root of the problem and as such will not be sustainable.

Just as in 1984 it will enrich a few and after a couple of years it will be ditched with no real impact in localising production. Without deliberate, active programs and policies to substitute imports with local production in a timely manner, the pressure will only to more structural imbalances.

Good decision by the FG, we need to encourage local industries, when our money stays and we import less, our currency will be more stable. Let's encourage exports instead of imports, this is how countries get rich, it is a very simple economic principle. Nigeria has been the mugu of these countries for too long, and they hate our guts. All over the world countries push to be exporters not importers.(that is the reason for the current trade war US/China). Let's act sensibly for once. Government has a role to play, in investing in proffessional farmers and Agriculture companies and businesses. They should be proper evaluated before loans and incentives are issued, so that the financial investment by government will be recouped. These type of rice farmers abound, that are running their business efficiently and profitably, they only need assistance to increase capacity. These things are not rocket science, serious countries all over the world are doing it, and it's working. Our market and human resources are our biggest resource, we have to benefit from them, for us.

SincereBigot:
i think the government is trying to find out why hence the need for the closure.. we cannot totally eradicate corruption from the customs.. the best thing the government can do is find newer methods to reduce the smuggling of important commodities like the PMS you earlier mentioned.. but if i may ask you, what exactly are we missing out by closing the land borders? I am a farmer please enlighten me i am open to learning

D govt doesn't need to close border to find out anything. It already knows d problem but chooses d lazy route. It knows that d men of custom are corrupt and are responsible for infractions at d border

[quote author=winterfell007 post=83384897]

As simple as that. Our farmers don't have the technology needed to be competitive. The major reason why foreign rice from India and Thailand is cheaper is because they adopted better technology in the rice value chain.
If the government wants to help the farmers, they should import better technologies and give them to the farmers. You can't close down the borders because you want to help local farmers at the expense of local consumers [/qu.
*Benin Republic has a population of 12 million people. But it is the worlds 5th importer of rice. In 2018, it imported rice worth US$996m.*

*Benin is also world's largest importer of _used_ _cars_ and __second_ - _hand_ _clothing_ . All with a population of 12m people.*
*DO YOU WONDER HOW?.........*
*Don't!*

*98.2% of these imports into Benin are only on transit; their final destination is _NIGERIA_ !*
*Nigeria is world's largest consumer of used cars and second hand clothing, and is also Africa's largest consumer of Asian grown rice.*

*The problem here is that all these imported goods attract appropriate import duty and trade tax, which are paid to the Beninoise Government while the goods are thence SMUGGLED into Nigeria WITHOUT ANY PAYMENT to the Nigerian Government and, thereby, adding zero value to the Nigerian economy!*
*Sadly, THIS IS ALL DONE BY NIGERIANS!*

*Granted, ECOWAS/CEDEAO charter allows for free trade between member states, but _on_ _goods_ _produced_ _in_ _member_ _countries_ , and NOT on imports from other economic blocs.*

*Where foreign goods are transiting through a member country, and ending up in another member country, the ECOWAS charter stipulates that the country of transit MAY collect a token trade tax, and its Customs officials should then escort the goods to the border of the importing country and hand it over to the Customs officials of the importing country!*
*But what we see in the case of Benin Republic is that it collects _CUSTOMS_ _DUTY_ plus _TRADE_ _TAX_ , and then allows the goods to pass through its hinterland for onward smuggle into Nigeria!*

*This is a clear violation of ECOWAS statutes and no nation can condone such costly infraction.*

*Nigeria has tolerated this nonsense from Benin for far too long and it is time to stop the malpractice if we want Nigeria's economy to grow.*
*(Therefore, whoever cries foul because we have closed our borders to smugglers while we're putting our act together, IS AN ENEMY OF NIGERIA!)*

*Nigeria makes up about 74% of ECOWAS population and about 71% of its economy. It is ECOWAS that needs Nigeria and not the other way round!*

ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEMBER COUNTRIES MUST BE BASED ON EXTANT REGULATIONS!

As if rice is the only food that we must eat in Nigeria. We need to go back to 80's when rice were only festive food or Sunday's meal. Then rice was not common even bread too. We need to support ds policy to grow Nigeria. No pain no gain. My home town is very close to border and most of d youths there r usually involve in smuggling rice and other goods. Education is nothing to them because of smuggling.

Clueless, callous, senseless and sadistic!

Why ban food when hunger pervades the land?
why not attain self-sufficiency 1st before baning?

.....#putting the cart before the horse!

And lastly, until the doomed shithole BANS #MEDICAL TOURISM, this satanic, SELF-SERVING govt is all shades of evil!

[quote author=dapolaw post=83385510]This policy took off because Nigeria wants indigenous rice farmers to make hay and reap the fruits of their labour,
Benin became one of the world’s top importers of rice because of its Nigerian market. Almost all of the rice it imported from Thailand, Indonesia etc found its way to Nigeria through the Seme border without paying the necessary import duties.


Do you know that most of the cargoes that used to go to Benin (Republic), shipped to Benin, and then discharged and smuggled into Nigeria, now that we have closed our border they are forced to bring their goods to either Apapa or Tin Can Island and we have to collect duties on them.
If that would continue then, it is a welcome situation. As a matter of fact, our revenue has not reduced, it is increasing as a result of closing the border."
Nigeria customs has been making between N4.7 billion to N5.8 billion daily--more than the agency used to generate before the closure.[/quote

Then what. Revenue for revenue sake. What is the revenue doing to improve local content. That is the question that should be asked. If the customs increased revenue will only end up paying for more limousines for Legislators or more foreign trips wasteful civil servants then it is completely useless. Are we not tired of hearing huge amounts generated without comensurate improvement in the economy or public services.

Once again if the gains of this policy go directly to producers and our industrial capacity increases in measurable terms as a result then it can be called a success, if not it is just a repitition of 1984.

netpro:


Primarily Trump's policy is fighting illegal migration, while Buhari's policy is fighting illegal smuggling through our borders.

So why is it that those Nigerians who keep hyping Trump's policy are mostly the same people against Buhari's policy?

U are still missing d point. It seems u didn't read what I wrote. Trump didn't close d US border because of illegal immigrants. There is already a fence that runs d length of d US/Mexico that was built long b4 Trump became president. Trump only wants to reinforce that fence with a wall.

I also told u that there are points of entry along every border. D US/Mexico border along with d fence has a legal point of entry in d form of a checkpoint. Its like toll gate where those going from and coming into d US are screened. It still remains open despite attempts at illegal migration, drugs smuggling, arms smuggling & money laundering. D volume of issues they handle there is way bigger than what Nigerian customs handled at Seme but they didn't close their border.

What buhari did was to close all legal points of entry in& out of Nigeria by land. What then is d job of his customs officers?

[quote author=Reference post=83385796][/quote]

Pls y do Nigerian importers prefer Cotonou port instead of Apapa? Have u ever been to Apapa port for busuness? D revenue u talked about, y hasn't it been used to improve Apapa port? Is revenue Nigerias problem? Where's d evidence of all d revenue they have been collecting?

President Muhammadu Buhari all the way.

I think it is not a well planned decision to close the borders. It has it's advantages but certain developments should be in place within the Nigerian economy to take full advantage of such decision to shut the borders to imports from neighbours.

I will focus mainly on rice, vehicles and poultry products importation through those routes.

Food is essential commodity in the nation. Nigerians eat a lot of rice and it is often consumed largely during festive and celebration periods. It is also the common household food.
What is the capacity of local farmers and Millers to meet the local demand for rice in Nigeria? What is the quality of local rice? How many standard and advanced rice mill plants do we have in Nigeria? What is the average price of local rice in Nigeria? What is the plan of Nigerian government to stabilise the price of local rice since the government created the artificial scarcity of rice which triggered inflation and super profit takers to rip Nigerians off?

It is important to note the need for offtakers who buy livestock and farm products off farmers at agreed and fair prices and supply the products to retailers or consumers at reasonable or normal profit to ensure standardisation, competitiveness, affordability, development, economic growth and capacity improvement of farmers. This is the most sustainable approach to reduce food inflation, ensure dependence on local food, eliminate unnecessary importation and improve the balance of trade of Nigeria.

Importation of vehicles, brand new and fairly used, will continue in Nigeria because we lack the capacity to manufacture quality vehicles in Nigeria. What Innoson, Nissan, Peugeot and others do in Nigeria is assembly of knocked-down vehicle parts into vehicle units. I can tell you categorically that Innoson only manufactures maximum of 10% of its vehicle parts, if at all.

Besides you can not compare the American specification of any model of vehicle with African or Arabian/Asian specification which are often assembled in South Africa and Dubai(UAE), as for Toyota, and assembled in Nigeria for some other brands including Innoson. The difference is significant. Hence, there is justifiable demand for imported vehicle products

However, the Nigerian government should review the cost of importation, cargo handling and turnaround time at the Nigerian ports to ensure competitiveness and advantage over other neighbours ports especially since the products routed through the neighbours ports are ultimately meant for Nigeria.

I strongly opine that government should reduce the import duty on imported cars to about 10% on cost value of older cars, not older than 15years back, and 25%-35% of cost value of new cars, of less than than or equal to 4 years old, to ensure all imported cars meant for Nigeria are routed through Nigerian ports. Nigerian car manufacturers may not like my idea but when you review the government policy of 70% of cost value on new cars, from year 2016, over the years, you will agree with me that it has not discouraged Nigerians from importing fairly used cars especially American specs. Even the quality of cars manufactured in Nigeria is poor compared to other specs and the price the local manufacturers sell the cars are outrageous given the value of cars on offer.

As for poultry products, Nigeria has significant immediate and potential capacity to meet local demand hence government policy should simply be aimed at encouraging and empowering poultry farming in Nigeria and importation of poultry products will be eliminated naturally. We all know that they simply dump those products on Nigerians hence the cheap prices.

As for fish, Nigeria can not meet local demand for fish. We must import fish at controlled rate and also encourage local production of fish. Our potential is in production of cat fish and tilapia but no other types other than sea fish. Government can also encourage sea fishing business to supplement our catfish and tilapia fish production. However, we shouldn't deny Nigerians the need to consume Titus, "Panla", croaker fish etc.

subtlemee:
What did they keep in place to check issues that may arise as a result of the closure?

"Necessity is the mother of invention "
-Anonymous

"What we cannot produce, we don't need"
- Korean

It should be opened.

netpro:

So 4 ur mind, na Trump start wall matter for US? Its always good 2b informed b4 u make claims. Here's ur proof


https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico%25E2%2580%2593United_States_barrier&hl=en-NG

netpro:
Funny how those who support Trump's wall building, oppose Buhari's land border closure.

How can you compared America with Nigeria What did you have on ground before closing your border?

[quote author=mrvitalis post=83384359]I look at sustainability of any policy and this is not sustainable ...can we close our borders for 5 years or 10 years or 25 years

Buhari like most Nigerians like treating the symptoms not root cause

The problem is we import foreign rice

Root cuase
1) our local grains are short Nigerians prefer longer grain
2) our yield are small average 1 ton per hectare while Thailand is 10ton per hectare
3) we have evil birds that can eat up ur farm in few days ...eat everything

Closing border is like forcing ur child to listen to radio because he goes to the next compound to watch TV which he love .

My solutions
1) we need to develop our seeds ...Jonathan government did a lot on this regard don't know why they were not continued ...we need to develop long grains

2) develop grains that yeild between 6 to 10 tons per hectare ...n can be planted 2 to 3 times a year

3) give loans to major rice farmers already to expand

4 ) develop ways to handle those

If this madness doesn't stop inflation will take over

Princewell2012:


How can you compared America with Nigeria What did you have on ground before closing your border?

Guy the boarder will remain closed till a lasting solution is put in place to checkmate illegalities at the boarder.

Please take your Smuggling Business elsewhere.

Iceberg3:
It is a very good policy only that it's a policy to improve the north....what we are about to see,for example, is Made In Kebbi/Zamfara rice. I may not know of other areas well be h this I'm very sure of.

Btw They can only deceive coneheaded structures
lzaa immhotep

Slave must obey master na

Wallade:
I think it is not a well planned decision to close the borders. It has it's advantages but certain developments should be in place within the Nigerian economy to take full advantage of such decision to shut the borders to imports from neighbours.

I will focus mainly on rice, vehicles and poultry products importation through those routes.

Food is essential commodity in the nation. Nigerians eat a lot of rice and it is often consumed largely during festive and celebration periods. It is also the common household food.
What is the capacity of local farmers and Millers to meet the local demand for rice in Nigeria? What is the quality of local rice? How many standard and advanced rice mill plants do we have in Nigeria? What is the average price of local rice in Nigeria? What is the plan of Nigerian government to stabilise the price of local rice since the government created the artificial scarcity of rice which triggered inflation and super profit takers to rip Nigerians off?

It is important to note the need for offtakers who buy livestock and farm products off farmers at agreed and fair prices and supply the products to retailers or consumers at reasonable or normal profit to ensure standardisation, competitiveness, affordability, development, economic growth and capacity improvement of farmers. This is the most sustainable approach to reduce food inflation, ensure dependence on local food, eliminate unnecessary importation and improve the balance of trade of Nigeria.

Importation of vehicles, brand new and fairly used, will continue in Nigeria because we lack the capacity to manufacture quality vehicles in the Nigeria. What Innoson, Nissan, Pegout and others do in Nigeria is assembly of knocked-down vehicle parts into vehicle units. I can tell you categorically that Innoson only manufactures maximum of 10% of its vehicle parts, if at all.

Besides you can not compare the American specification of any model of vehicle with African or Arabian/Asian specification which are often assembled in South Africa and Dubai(UAE). The difference is significant. Hence, there is justifiable demand for imported products

However, the Nigerian government should review the cost of importation, cargo handling and turnaround time at the Nigerian ports to ensure competitiveness and advantage over other neighbours ports especially since the products routed through the neighbours ports are ultimately meant for Nigeria.

I strongly opine that government should reduce the import duty on imported cars to about 25%-35% of cost value to ensure all imported cars meant for Nigeria are routed through Nigerian ports. Nigerian car manufacturers may not like my idea but when you review the government policy of 75% of cost value over the years, you will agree with me that it has not discouraged Nigerians from importing fairly used cars especially American specs. Even the quality of cars manufactured in Nigeria is poor compared to other specs and the price the local manufacturers sell the cars is outrageous given the value of cars on offer.

As for poultry products, Nigeria has significant immediate and potential capacity to meet local demand hence government policy should simply be aimed at encouraging and empowering poultry farming in Nigeria and importation of poultry products will be eliminated naturally. We all know that they simply dump those products on Nigerians hence the cheap prices.

As for fish, Nigeria can not meet local demand for fish. We must import fish at controlled rate and also encourage local production of fish. Our potential is in production cat fish and tilapia but no other types other than sea fish. Government can also encourage sea fishing business to supplement our catfish and tilapia fish production. However, we shouldn't deny Nigerians the need to consume Titus, "Panla", croaker fish etc.

I disagree with you on a points
1-we can only know if local production of rice rice Millers , fish etc is not enough only by closing our borders and after which if we observe scarcity of this food products then we can conclude that we can't meet local production.
2-;on cars you missed it altogether, car is a luxury good.
With investment in rail transportation what we only need now is encouraging Innoson to solve our transport issue, the rich and our politicans have fleets of exotic cars in their compounds, if you doubt me check Dino Melaye house or Bala Mohammed house just to mention a few.
Car is a luxury good to majority if other means of transportation is effective

nice step

Its a right move but with a wrong approach
There should be other palliative measures in place to make it work out to boost revenue for government as well as have cushioning effects on inflation in the economy.

The import duties also need to be reduced which is the main reason why there is smuggling in the first place,if the duties are low smuggling will be economically unattractive besides it will also have a positive effects on SME,s.

A tax holiday should be declared for all foreign companies willing to relocate to Nigeria during the tax window and import waivers should be granted to them on machineries and heavy equipments.

All contraband seized goods by the NCS that are of international standards and hygenically consumable should auctioned out to the public at very low price to break the market monopoly of demand and supply.

why was the border not closed for foreign herdsmen

adenigga:



I don't think is a nice decision. It is the right step in the right direction. *…....…........................................................*

But it seems you are contradicting yourself judging from your above statement. You can try to clarify your position.

I tried to twist heads when I write at times. Trying to make one think otherwise but still maintaining the statues quo.

That's all I have to say bro

princemillla:
Ask me over and over again I'd say same thing.
Border should remain closed. Nigeria should pull out of the free trade whatever it's a scam.



Lets try this for a whole 4 years

God forbid we're not trying it for only 4 years but for 10-15 years in Jesus name

Let them also close border for foreign health trips.. Let everybody make use of our health facilities... They think they are wise.

mrvitalis:
I look at sustainability of any policy and this is not sustainable ...can we close our borders for 5 years or 10 years or 25 years

Buhari like most Nigerians like treating the symptoms not root cause

The problem is we import foreign rice

Root cuase
1) our local grains are short Nigerians prefer longer grain
2) our yield are small average 1 ton per hectare while Thailand is 10ton per hectare
3) we have evil birds that can eat up ur farm in few days ...eat everything

Closing border is like forcing ur child to listen to radio because he goes to the next compound to watch TV which he love .

My solutions
1) we need to develop our seeds ...Jonathan government did a lot on this regard don't know why they were not continued ...we need to develop long grains

2) develop grains that yeild between 6 to 10 tons per hectare ...n can be planted 2 to 3 times a year

3) give loans to major rice farmers already to expand

4 ) develop ways to handle those evil birds ...we can learn from iseral

Create rice farming villages

Place 50% import duty on rice imported use the money to fund the above

In 5 years we can achieve full sufficiency then u can ban import

Deep sir!

pharmagba:

I disagree with you on a points
1-we can only know if local production of rice rice Millers , fish etc is not enough only by closing our borders and after which if we observe scarcity of this food products then we can conclude that we can't meet local production.
2-;on cars you missed it altogether, car is a luxury good.
With investment in rail transportation what we only need now is encouraging Innoson to solve our transport issue, the rich and our politicans have fleets of exotic cars in their compounds, if you doubt me check Dino Melaye house or Bala Mohammed house just to mention a few.
Car is a luxury good to majority if other means of transportation is effective

Oga, statistics will tell you if we can meet local demand for rice or any food at all. You don't have to shut the border and create the food scarcity, astronomical prices of few food - rice - and discomfort to Nigerians before you evaluate the capacity of Nigeria to meet the local demand.

Do yourself a favor and see the post below as I quote PWC:

"We estimate that increasing the mechanisation rate in Nigeria from 0.3hp/ha to 0.8hp/ha in the next 5 years, can double rice production to 7.2 million tonnes. To achieve this, we estimate that Nigeria will need to at least triple its current stock of machinery over the same period.

Rice - the most consumed staple
Rice is one of the most consumed staples in Nigeria, with a consumption per capita of 32kg. In the past decade, consumption has increased 4.7%, almost four times the global consumption growth, and reached 6.4 million tonnes in 2017 – accounting for c.20% of Africa's consumption. As at 2011, rice accounted for 10% of household food spending, and 6.6% of total household spending*. Given the importance of rice as a staple food in Nigeria, boosting its production has been accorded high priority by the government in the past 7 years. Significant progress has been recorded; rice production in Nigeria reached a peak of 3.7 million tonnes in 2017."


Cars are not luxury goods, they are necessities in most cases. It can only be luxury when you acquire extra expensive and many cars. Every Nigerian family should have a car, at least.
Innoson has proven to be a profit maximiser; keenly interested in super profit otherwise, I can't understand how the "pangolo" awarded to Mercy - BBN 2019 - was valued at 25million naira.
What is the second hand value of Innoson vehicles? Even your new National Assembly members refused to settle for Innoson and other Nigerian assembled brands. The quality is low compared to American specs foreign brand.

Let me ask: have you experienced American specification Toyota personally? If you have, you must be insane to come on this platform and advocate for Innoson.

Ultimately, we must be objective, fair and practical with our suggestions to the government even when we have the interest of the nation at heart, we must prevent sentiments and selfish business motives from eroding our sense of judgement.