Nigeria bans imports, exports across land borders

Nigeria has closed all its land borders stopping the movement of goods except by sea.

The customs agency which is in charge of the country’s borders has also not given any timelines for when the borders will be reopened.

Hamid Ali, comptroller general of the Nigeria Custom service said: ”All goods for now are banned from being exported or imported through our land borders and that is to ensure we have total control over what comes in.”

This, according to the Voice Of America, is an effort by the Nigerian government to ”thwart smuggling of rice and other goods.”

The comptroller general however says that goods will only be allowed to cross at border points where there are special scanners.

Nigerian economic experts say that this closure could have a negative impact on the economy.

Some of the commodities likely to become expensive include rice, tomatoes, poultry and sugar.

”Already we are seeing effects on prices and inflation and I’m guessing we will see effects on Q3 GDP once that data comes out in November,” Nonso Obili, a director of the Turgot Center for Economics and Policy Research in Abuja.

Al Jazeera reported that this is not the first time the borders are being closed.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the closure in August without notice.

Benin was the worst hit after the order as their economy was dependent on exporting food to the country with the largest population in Africa.

Oil, Nigeria’s biggest export product, will not be affected by the closure as it is sent out through the sea.