Uche Usim, Abuja
As the debate over the indefinite closure of land borders across rages,
the Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali and the Kaduna State Governor, Mr Nasir el-Rufai have described the action as an excellent move towards rescuing the Nigerian economy from years of dumping that have crippled local producers.
To this end, the duo have urged the government not to succumb to the mounting pressure from influential Nigerians and neighbouring nations who are feeding fat from organized smuggling, to reopen the borders.
Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the graduation ceremony of Senior Course 3 of the Nigerian Customs and Staff College, Gwagwalada, Abuja, the Customs boss said Nigeria can no longer play host to international smugglers whose nefarious activities have continually blighted the Nigerian economy.
He said that Nigeria has to first think of her survival before considering the impact of the closure on neighbours.
He noted that the time to rebuild the vandalized economy was now, adding that local entrepreneurs must be brought in to take their rightful place of creating jobs and growing the economy in the process.
The Customs boss said the pains currently experienced were temporary as Nigerians will see the impact in the near future.
Ali hailed all military and paramilitary agencies for totally supporting the border drill.
He noted that Nigeria is blessed with a population of 200 million that can consume all her products and as such there was no urgency for external patronage.
His words: “It is our hope that the border drill will continue for a while so that we cannot only sanitize our process but we can also lay the foundation for our growth and development because that is what we need to get our industrialists think and grow.
“If we don’t do that we are going to be in deep problem. By the time we begin to operate the African Continental Free Trade, Nigeria will be a dumping ground for every product from Africa. So, we need to be able to develop our capacity to be able to meet our requirements in terms of goods and services so that we can keep at bay the influx of other goods.
“If we don’t, these goods will come and our industries will continue to die. So we look forward to a situation whereby our industrialists will capitalize on this drill that we are doing so that they can grow and provide those things that we need. The Chinese closed their doors for over 20 years and now they are on top.
“I hope that Nigerians will agree with us that while we are doing this drill, I know that our neighbours are in a haste to get us open the boarders, I think we need to look at our strategic interest first before looking at other people.
“I remember that I always tell people when they confront me that why are you doing this to our neighbours, I say look even in the aircraft if the say when there is an oxygen mast dropping even your own child, they say out your own oxygen mast before your own child, this is because you have to save yourself to get the child to survive. We must as Nigerians survive and flourish for our neighbour to also flourish.”
In his remarks, Kaduna State Governor, Mr Nasir el-Rufai said the border closure remains a most welcome development as it creates a conducive environment for real and budding entrepreneurs in Nigeria to thrive.
He said: “Don’t forget that those that are preaching the reopening of the borders today, closed their borders for 20 years. Nigeria must grow on its internal capacity. We will not allow our neighbours to use the porosity of our borders to sabotage our economy.”