Federal Government Should Review Their Border Closure Decision — Bashir Tofa

The ex Presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC Alhaji Bashir Tofa has urged FG to review the border closure to avoid the huge economic loses involved.

He revealed this on Tuesday as he responded to questions from newsmen at a press conference by Kano elders under the aegis of Kano Concerned Citizens Initiative, KCCI.

He added that there are advantages and disadvantages to the decision, so the government will need to examine things carefully and make amends if need be.

His words, “First we appreciate why the federal government found it necessary to close the borders. We have mentioned also that closing the boarders alone is not going to solve the entire problem.

“In some cases there are advantages. Some companies like rice millers to them certainly are a very good thing, it is an advantage. But to some others, it is a disadvantage. Even to the federal government, there are advantages and disadvantages to them.

“When the government seeks to stop illegal importation of contra banned goods due to the lack of payment of duties, at the same time government has made many people lose money in terms of their exports while exporting these goods.

“We know that there may be billions of naira worth of goods on both sides of the boarders, those coming in and also those going out and a lot of them are sources of revenue for the federal government.”

“So, what we advise is that the federal government should examine this issue very closely and make sure that those who are legally doing their business are allowed to continue their business as long as they are paying the right duties.

“We understand that a lot of these problems are connivance between Customs officials and some businessmen who are willing and ready to pay some money less than what they should pay through the right process.”

“In fact, these borders are still very porous and things have not changed much in some of them because some of the Customs officials are still collecting money and allowing goods come in.”