Just in: Importers now free to import vehicles through Seme border in Lagos — Official

The Federal Government has approved the re-opening of the Seme border in the Badagry area of Lagos State with the Republic of Benin for the importation of vehicles into the country.

The Director of Road Transport in the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Mr Ibrahim Musa, disclosed this on Wednesday at the ECOWAS Monitoring Team’s visit to the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post in Seme.

A meeting between the officials of Nigeria and Benin was organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Musa said the approval for importation of vehicles through the land border followed complaints by freight forwarders operating at Seme border.

“I was here with the former Minister of State for Transportation when the freight forwarders pleaded that the border should be reactivated for the free movement of goods and services.

“The former minister made us prepare a memo to that effect. It was considered and sent to the government,” he said.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Customs Area Controller of Seme Command, Comptroller Dera Nnadi, said the Service had noticed a reduction in its revenue since the importation of vehicles was banned through the land borders far back 2019 by the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nnadi said: “The former Minister of Transportation, responding to some of our requests and from the stakeholders, promised to take them to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, one of them is how to fully open this border.

“The Ministry has informed us that the memo has been written to FEC and it was adopted and that it would be given to the new government; he assured us that all the requests were adopted.”