Matilda Omonaiye/
Nigeria today is celebrating the gains of keeping her border shut for 16 months.
In a bid to boost rice production and pave the way for self-reliance, the President shut the country’s land borders hoping to take Nigeria back from foreign nations that have turned the country to a dumping ground for foodstuffs.
Coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), President Muhammadu Buhari launched Operation Swift Response (OSR) that transformed into Nigeria’s Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT) as part of a Tripartite Operation, comprising Benin, Niger and Nigeria.
Besides the protection of locally manufactured goods, the move was also against smuggling of oil products out of Nigeria, and the inflow of small arms and drugs into the country.
Official records say, as at January 5, 2021, no fewer than 1,401 irregular migrants had been arrested while the total seizures were 159,506.7-(50kg) bags of parboiled foreign rice; 10,447 bags of NPK fertilizer used for making explosives; 1,974 Vehicles; 895 motorcycles; 18,690.3 Jerry-cans of Vegetable Oil, among other seized items.
The total monetary value of the apprehended items is about ₦12,538,333,545.50.
To achieve this objective working with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies, the Federal Government through the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu appointed a seasoned officer who was a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr Udu Moses Ogechi, to lead the coalition force of border guards that would keep smugglers at bay.
The Police Service Commission (PSC) led by a former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Musiliu Smith has received commendations for elevating Ogechi to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), as a reward for the work and effort put into the endeavor that has recorded massive success at the borders.
Before he was given the task of carrying out the presidential mandate of securing Nigeria’s most strategic land border, Ogechi had served as the Squadron Commander, MOPOL 43, Lion Building; Commander in charge of Diplomatic Missions and the Commander, Lion Building.
Ogechi who hailed from Ivo, in Ebonyi State, had served as Commander, Federal Task Force on Narcotic and Counterfeit Drugs under the late Dr Dora Akunyili, and had contributed largely to the successes recorded in the war against fake drugs. He led the operations.
During his years at NAFDAC, he led the sanitization of Onitsha Head Bridge drug market, where illicit drugs worth billions of naira were confiscated, along with arms and ammunition.
According to the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele who visited the Seme Border last year, Ogechi’s activities earned Nigeria a huge income.
There are also testimonies by communities around the border that it had become a no-go area for robbers and gunrunners.
Smugglers reportedly couldn’t have their way due to the effective policing that led to several arrests and recoveries.
The Presidential Task Force christened Enhanced Nigeria-Benin Joint Border Patrol has its operational headquarters at the ever-busy Seme Border, in Badagry area of Lagos.
Four days before Nigeria closed the border without warning, security agents had intercepted truckloads of prohibited tramadol and codeine, and Customs officers had earlier impounded loads of Pump Action Rifles smuggled into the country.
One of the accomplishments that the President proudly celebrated in his Democracy Day address, on June 12, last year, was the efficiency of police officers and other security agents involved in the special operation to keep Nigeria’s borders safe.
“To reduce security challenges through our external borders especially smuggling of oil products out of the country, inflow of small arms and drugs into the country and equally protect our local manufacturers, we introduced operation ‘Ex-Swift Response’ closing our borders from August 20th 2019, and have considerably succeeded in meeting its objectives as well as improving our national revenue,” the President said in his broadcast.
Although, it has not gone down well with neighboring countries, the border closure has been described by Nigerian officials as one visionary and pro-active move against the spread of the novel coronavirus which the World Health Organization (WHO) first reported on December 31, 2019.
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd), in a recent press statement, signed by the Nigeria Customs Service spokesman, DC Joseph Attah, says: “With the reopening of the borders for commercial activities, items such as parboiled rice, frozen chicken, illicit drugs, among others remain prohibited. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) in a goodwill message to the transformed Operation SWIFT RESPONSE, applauded the unflinching commitment of the security operatives to the national assignment, and urged them not to rest on their oars.
“The NSA further stated that the joint patrols would be adequately administered and charged the operatives to display a high level of professionalism during the operation with their neighboring counterparts. This was because Nigeria has a widely acclaimed track record of security operations not just at the ECOWAS level, but the world at large.
“Meanwhile, a year and four months into the operation, the smuggling of illicit drugs and proliferation of small arms and light weapons used to exacerbate Violent Extremism and Terrorism in some parts of the country have been significantly curbed. This is in addition to the quantum of seizures of prohibited items and numbers of arrested irregular migrants as the operation progresses.”
According to Attah in another statement, revenue generation that was between N4 billion to N5 billion before the commencement of the border drill in August 2019, has increased to between N5 billion to N9 billion daily.
Attah stated: “…Diplomatic engagements that took place during the partial land border closure yielded many positive results, including commitment to comply with the ECOWAS Protocol on Transit. Operationalization of joint border patrols at both sides of the border.
“The teams are required to share intelligence and ensure prevention of transit of prohibited goods into the neighbor’s territory. Accordingly Service wishes to express its readiness to strictly implement the outcome of the diplomatic engagements as the land borders open for movement of cargoes.
“Intelligence gathered during the period and the introduction of the e-Customs whose components include installation of scanners at all entry points will enhance border security and boost national trade facilitation.
“Already Ministry of Finance has purchased three new Scanners. Interestingly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also expressed commitment to purchasing four Scanners and establish the control center for monitoring all scanning sites in their bid to boost national economy, especially agricultural sector. This means that within the next six months, NCS will have about seven functional Scanners to be mounted at strategic entry points even before the full deployment of e-Customs components which will see to the deployment of 135 modern Scanners.
“NCS appreciates and commends the leadership of CBN for this strategic intervention in the interest of the nation.
“In the same vein, the Service efforts to prevent the entry of items that could compromise the Security of our citizens, Economy and the wellbeing of our people resulted in the seizures of 4,304 assorted items with a duty paid value of N28, 287, 285, 847.52.
“These seizures include arms, ammunitions, illicit drugs, used clothing, vegetable oil, frozen poultry and foreign rice among others that have grave consequences on economy security and wellbeing of Nigerians.
“While we give assurances of total commitment to the course of protecting national security and economy, we call on Nigerians, especially the business community to support the NCS as our borders open to African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in order to benefit from the trade agreement and other cross border activities.”
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