FLASH: Nigeria Issues Another Ban On Niger Republic

The Federal Government of Nigeria has issued a ban on transit cargo to the trouble-brewing Republic of Niger.

In a statement obtained by our correspondent, the Acting Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said the service has since placed customs officers manning its land borders on red alert.

Adeniyi said the officers manning the Benin Republic, Cameron, and other land borders had been ordered to maintain a high level of vigilance as a result of the recent closure of Nigeria’s border with the Niger Republic.

While addressing officers and men of the NCS during his working visit to the headquarters of the Ogun Area 1 Command of the NCS at Idiroko, Ogun State, the Customs boss called on operatives manning the land borders to wage war against any attempt to jeopardise Nigeria’s national security.

He explained that special attention must be given to transit goods heading to the Niger Republic. He directed that any transit goods through customs territory should be stopped if they are headed to the Niger Republic.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu had ordered the shutting of Nigerian land borders with the Niger Republic as part of measures against the military junta in the West African country.

According to Adeniyi, criminals, in an attempt to break or smuggle arms into Niger Republic, may explore other land borders like that of the Benin Republic and Cameroon.

Meanwhile, Adeniyi had, last Sunday, hinted that the service would seek a review of the ban on the supply of petroleum products within a 20km radius of the country’s border with the Benin Republic.

The NCS boss dropped the hint at Idiroko, Ogun State, during a meeting with the Oniko of Iko Idiroko, Oba John Olakunle Ojo, as part of his working visit to the Ogun Area 1 Command of the NCS.

Reports had revealed that a litre of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, is now sold for N1,000 at the border communities of Ogun State following the adjustment of the petrol pump price by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to N617 per litre.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2019 banned the supply of petroleum products to Nigerians living within 20km of the country’s frontiers to curtail the diversion of subsidised fuel to neighbouring countries.