By Stephen Ubanna
When former President Muhammed Buhari, now deceased, who had shut all land borders across the country as part of efforts to curtail smuggling and boost local rice production including the Idiroko border in 2019 but bowed to pressure from both within and outside the country to reopen it in 2022, after four ears of closure, he never gave room for Transit cargoes and transshipment trade to pass through the border Community into Nigeria.
There scores of Factories located in different parts of Ogun state, particular, Ota and Igbesa axis, that imports much raw materials shipped through the port f Cotonou, Benin but not take it through the Idiroko border because of the Buhari’s Administration policy which barred transit cargoes and transshipments from passing through the border, except Seme or the nation’s seaport ports.
The Federal government was emphatic that that all transit cargoes and transshipment should not be routed through the Idiroko border but only through the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Abidjan-Lagos, corridor, which is the Seme -Krake joint border Community.
There is no gaining saying that the Nigeria Customs Authorities were acting out a script of the Benin Republic Customs Service Authority had kept to the arrangement . Given there are many factories located in Ota, described as the industrial an industrial hub, and Igbesa Free Trade Area and other parts of the state which imports much of their raw materials through the port of Benin Cotonou, and which can only enter into Nigeria as transit cargo ma have informed why the past and present Area Controller of Ogun 1, Command, Idiroko, had initiated negotiation with the Beninois Customs Authorities to allow imported cargoes to pass through the Idiroko border Community.
James Ojo, rtd, a former Area Controller, Ogun I, Command , Idiroko, now retired was said to have initiated the talks with the Beninois Customs Authorities on the need to allow Transit cargoes pass through Idiroko, a Border Community between Nigeria and Republic Benin to restore full economic activities to the land border station and keep the officers on the import and export Seat busy instead of the officers only chasing smugglers in the push where its has already stamped its Authority.
He was said to have taken up the matter with the Customs management Team under the Leadership of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, but that was how far he could go. Compt. Godwin Otunla, who has made a mark in the defunct Comptroller General of Customs, CGC, Task Force, Team A, Lagos, under the then DC.
Bello Ahmadu Shuaibu, now an Assistant Comptroller General , ACG , Enforcement, Inspections and Investigations, EII, at the Customs, Headquarters. Decorated alongside other appointees into the Management Team,, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, following the gale of retirement , to strengthen the Service operations both at the National and Command levels, ACG, Shuaibu was said to moved into action : to sensitize the consciousness of the Interventionist Units Area Controllers in order to clip the wings of the economic saboteurs .
Compt. Otunla efforts to revive the idiroko Border post appears to have paid off as CGC Adeniyi, who has the backing of President Bola Ahmaed Tinubu may have intervened to ensure that transit cargoes and transshipment trade resume at the Idiroko border. He had his way.
It would be recalled that on August 2, 2025, the two West African countries have had a high -level meeting in Cotonou, Capital of Republic of Benin, to take another look on the decision that transit cargoes should only be allowed to pass the Seme/Krake joint border, leaving idiroko.
Barshir Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, working closely with the past and present Afrea Controller of Ogun I, Command, Idiroko, was said to have opened a channel of discussion with Mrs. Adidjaou Hassan Zanouvi, the Director -General of Benin Customs to soften the ground for the meeting between Mrs. Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria minister of Industries, Trade and Investment and his team which includes technical experts drawn from Customs and importers and the various a Associations of Agents and Freight Forwarders and their Counters. They were said to have met Romuald Wadagni, his Counterpart at the Ministre de I’ Economie et des Finances, to meet in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin Capital to chart a new collaborative part toward efficient cross-border trade.
The unwavering support and approval of the Beninois Customs Director-General, who was said to have thrown her weight to CGC Adeniyi’s emergence as Chairman of the recent World Customs Organisation, WCO, Council meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, may have made the discussions between the Nigerian team and their Beninois Counterparts to be less stressful.
Given that President Patrick Talon’s government was ready to allow transit and transshipment cargoes from the port of Benin, Cotonou, to enter into Nigeria, through the Idiroko border, may have informed why the parties who undertook a joint guided tour of the port of Benin, to assess the clearing process procedures and explore modernization opportunities as part of the engagement had taken some bold decisions to allow transit cargoes pass through the Idiroko border post. It was matter of time for the cross-border policy to be implemented.
Described as a bold step forward in the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, region, Nigeria and Republic of Benin had signed a preliminary Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, at the West African Economic Summit, in Cotonou, to allow Transit cargoes enter into Nigeria without restriction.
As a prelude to ensuring that the agreement was put into action without further delay, the two countries officials were said to have mandated the technical team ‘’to translate the political commitments into actionable policies to facilitate Trade through the idiroko, a border community between the countries.
Acting within the mandate given to them, both the Nigerian and Beninois technical experts, were said to have dismantled all the barriers to trade across the Idiroko border ‘’to improve logistics and movement of Transit cargoes across the joint border Communities.
CGC, Adeniyi, who had worked tirelessly over the last two years to ensure that Transit cargoes from Republic of Benin enter into Nigeria, through the Idiroko Land border stations had kept to his words ‘’ to execute the trade agreement ‘s outcome with Benin and ensure its alignment with the country’s trade priorities’’.
In actualizing the implementation of the trade agreement without any set back, the CGC, who had gladdened the heart of the Nigeria Nigerian importers, with their agents and the Customs personnel at the Idiroko border, with a schedule of duty which has to do with imports and exports, when he stated that the Service under his Leadership will implement the Cotonou -Logos, new corridor -based solutions to facilitate transit and transshipment trade while eliminating bureaucratic delays that would affect small and medium enterprises across the country.
True to his words, the Customs Comptroller General, was said to have removed all the trade barriers between Nigeria and Republic of Benin, that hinder local businesses as the systems between the two West African countries wee said to have been connected and activated to facilitate movement of transit cargoes and transshipment trade through the Idiroko border Community.
This appears to have made the Ogun I, Command officers on the Import and Export, including the Enforcement Seat to be very busy. An insider confirmed that theHeads of Units, regularly visit the Area Controller’s office, on a daily basis for briefing to ensure that the right thing is done just as there is tight security at the exit gate. Unconfirmed report shows that ever since the Beninois Customs Authority gave approval for tuck laden transit cargoes from the neighbouring country to enter into Nigeria through the Idiroko, border, three to five trucks enter the country daily after thorough physical examination.
The Value News online Magazine sited some of the Transit trucks laden ed cargoes around the Igolo axis of the Benin, awaiting to enter Nigeria. In spite of the fact, that the cross -border trade agreement between Nigeria and Republic, just came into effect this August appears to have given the Ogun I, Command, Area Controller hope of surpassing the N45,054,191.00 , collected by the Command paid into the Federation account in 2025, between July 3 and August 2, 2025, as the Command had improved monitoring of border activities and movement of transit cargoe s into the country including exports into the West and Central African markets.
While Compt. Otunla, is doing everything possible to make the best use of the opportunity provided for Transit cargoes to pass through the Idiroko border to collect maximum revenue for the government, the cam-boys, who do the dirty job for the officers at the checkpoints who had disappeared from the road for quite a while due to the hard line position adopted by the Ogun I, Area Controller, to deal decisively with any officer, still engaging the services of these cam -boys to disrupt the Command trade facilitation drive appears to have have returned, doing what they best, carrying out routine checks of booth of vehicles to ensure that there is no foreign rice, poultry products or any other Contraband item concealed in the vehicle and report back to the officer concerned for necessary action.
The Ogun I, Command, officers at the checkpoints may have taken a cue from the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone A, Check point officers who still engage the services of the Can-boys to engage the services of the can-boys as. Those who knew Compt. Otunla, very well, are sure that he will get the officers at checkpoints flouting his orders by engaging cam-boys to do Customs job by making unscheduled visits to the Command checkpoints in the state to fish out the bad eggs and return them to the Idiroko, Head office to be working at documents.
