The Federal Government has approved the re-opening of the Nigerian border with Benin Republic in Seme for importation of vehicles.
Seme border is in the Badagry area of Lagos State and shares a border with Benin Republic in the South-western part of Nigeria.
lbrahim Musa, the Director of Road Transport in the Federal Ministry of Transportation, disclosed this on Wednesday at the ECOWAS Monitoring Team’s visit to the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post in Seme.
A meeting of officials of Nigeria and Benin was organised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the re-0pening of the border.
Musa said the approval for importation of vehicles through the land border followed complaints by freight forwarders operating at Seme border.
“I was here with the former Minister of State for transportation when the freight fonwarders pleaded that the border should be reactivated for the free movement of goods and services.
“The former minister made us prepare a memo to that effect. It was considered and sent to the government, he said.
Dera Nnadi, the Customs Area Controller in Seme, said the Service had noticed a reduction in its revenue since the importation of vehicles was banned through the land borders far back 2019 by the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The former Minister of Transportation, responding to some of our requests and from the stakeholders, promisedto take them to the Federal Executive Council, one of them is how to fully open this border.
“The Ministry has informed us that the memo has been written to FEC and it was adopted and that it would be given to the new government” she said.