By Stephen Ubanna
In spite of the down turn in the economic and social activities of Seme joint border, described as the busiest land border in the African Continent, in the past, Comptroller Mohammed Bello Jibo, Seme Command Area Controller has not allowed it to encourage his officers to officers to do the wrong thing because of the high level of discipline.
Described as a disciplinarian in security circles at the border Community, according informed sources,the Customs Area Comptroller, leads by example. Taking a cue from Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, he has made discipline the watch word of his Administration on assumption of duties in the Command over a year ago.
He may have made discipline one of his agendas because he believes if that could be achieved officers would fall in line. Ali, the Customs Comptroller General, had given the Seme Customs Controller, ’’to ensure that no Contraband enters into the country from Republic of Benin or vice versa.
The Customs Comptroller was said to have made the officers and men of the Command, to understand that he will not take any excuse for an answer for not doing’’ the right thing to of making Contraband seizures or boost the Command revenue generation now that at the Land border has been opened for vehicular movement by President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General. The officers may have got the message right that they have followed his footstep in the discharge of their duties as he was said to be making good use of the Customs Police to enforce the discipline.
A visitor to the one-time busy joint border Community would be surprised to see how disciplined the Patrol Team and other Enforcement officers on the road behave in relating to the Cross-border-travellers and the trading public without creating any scene that would attract Usman Akli Baba, the Inspector General of Police, IGP’s, men , on the road for support.
Recall that in the past, the situation at the Seme Jurisdictions was very worrisome because of the Consistent attack on officers by aggrieved youths who aid and abet the activities of within the Seme Jurisdiction. But all that has become history.
A senior police officer who spoke to The Value News on condition of anonymity at the border Community disclosed that ‘’there had not been any dull moment at the border post since Comptroller Jibo came on board as he has always been more concerned on how’’ to re-engineer and reposition the Command to ensure a good working relationship between the officers and the host Communities including other security Operatives to enhance its Contraband seizures and revenue generation with the reopening of the land border for business.
. It is not surprising why the Command various Patrol Teams and the officers at the approved checkpoints are turning in Contraband seizures, particular, foreign parboiled rice and vehicles including Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, Petrol, without giving room to the economic saboteurs to penetrate their ranks to avoid playing into the hands of the no nonsense Comptroller Jibo.
Many had cited the good woks of Abubakar ankingari, an Assistant Comptroller, over-seeing the Command Operations, whose officers are making vehicular seizures and thousands of bags of foreign par boiled rice, of 50 Kg each including Petrol, at the border Community illegal routes, beaches and Creeks that are scattered all over the Seme Jurisdiction, Badagry and Owode axis with little or no resistance.
Insiders told The Magazine that due to the high level of discipline in the Command Operations Team, the officers appear to have made the difference in the Command. Given the space Constraint at the Team’s operational base at the border Community may have forced Assistant Comptroller Dankingari to seek the approval of the Area Comptroller to transfer some of the intercepted vehicles littered the office to his premises. He got it.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, a retire Army had banned the importation of Vehicles and foreign rice through the land border on January 1, 2017. The ban on the importation of foreign rice into the country was said to have been extended to the seaports by the government in June 2017, as Godwin Emefiele, led Central Bank of Nigrian, CBN, at the istance of Hajia Zainab Ahmed, minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning has stopped opening Letters of Credits, LC, to foreign rice importers.
The Seme based clearing agents who have been idle due to the 19 months border closure, had expected that with the reopening in 202020 and subsequent the establishment of the Customs Bonded International Bonded Terminal at the Seme joint border Community, in 2021, the pressure on the Command anti-smuggling Patrol Teams would be reduced Considerably as the importers would their agents would do the right thing.
They had expected the Beninois Customs Authorities to regularly transfer the Nigerian- bound transit Containers to the Terminal to facilitate the clearing process for the importers with their agents. But the Beninois Customs Authorities appear not to be a hurry to do so because they are used to breaking the Container Seal in their port in the past and loading two to three Container loads of goods in one Truck that would be handed over to the Nigerian Customs personnel at the Seme border.
Unconfirmed report had it that the Seme Command Area Controller had on several occasions held meeting with his Beninois Counterpart on how to regularize the transfer of the Nigeria –bound Transit Containers from the Autonomous port of Benin, Cotonou and Bollore port to Nigeria but the Beninois Customs Authorities are still hesitant to do so.
This is because they are are acting out the script of the transit cargo importers who are used to importing Contraband through the Benin seaports and smuggle it into the country through unapproved routes in Ogun , Oyo and Lagos states in the south west geo-political region.
Adetona Abidemi, the General Manager of the Seme International Bonded Terminal may have seen the situation as very frustrating as he comes to the terminal when there is job to do. At present the transit Containers are coming into the Seeme International Bonded Terminal in trickles of two or three weekly or thereabout.
There is no gainsaying the fact that many Nigerian importers who had relocated to the Lagos ports of Apapa and Tincan Island ports in the wake of the border closure in 2019, are looking up to their agents at the border Community to advise them on the type of cargoes to import through the neighbouring Benin republic Port or other port ports in the West African sub –region without infringing on the government Fiscal policy.
For now, no reputable agent at the Seme Border Community who have importers is ready to ask his or her importer, both individuals or Corporate Organisations to return to Benin, Togo or Ghana seaports, because those who had imported through these ports are still finding it difficult to take delivery of their cargoes because of the refusal of the Beninois Customs Authorities to transfer the Nigeria-bound transit Containers to the Seme Customs Command Authorities.
Notwithstanding the frustrating stance of Patrice Talon, the Beninois President to force the Nigerian government to bend the rules to return the status quo, of loading the Nigerian –bound cargoes in trucks before handing it over to the NCS, personnel at the Seme Land border sattion, Comptroller Jibo and the Leadership of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Seme Chapter, and officials of the Seme Bonded Terminal officials, were said to have to have continued to rub mind on ‘’how to restore Seme to its lost glory where it will still be a beehive of economic activities’’.
Ojinma O, popular, Sule, Chairman, Seme Chapter of ANLCA, was said to have made it clear to those that cares to listen that ‘’ the restoration of Seme land border to its original status, where it would be the first choice of transit cargo importers to take t delivery of their cargoes and put more money into the government coffers as the Lagos ports of Apapa, Tin can Island port, Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, KLT, Phases I&II including One port in the south east, are currently doing.
Agents, are optimistic that he will do it base on his pedigree as a man of his words who will give ‘’the Seme Customs Authorities all the necessary support to return the Seme land border Community to its original position as a reputable border Community where genuine traders go about their normal business without fear or favour.
