The Nigerian Customs Service
(NCS) says no item can be imported exported through the nation’s land borders.
Hameed Ali, comptroller-general
of NCS, said this at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
He said the measure would enable
security agencies to be able to scan the goods entering the country.
Ali said for now, goods can only
enter the country through the air and sea ports, where they can undergo
thorough scanning and certified fit for consumption.
“We hope that by the time we get
to the end of this exercise, we would have agreed with our neighbours on the
type of goods that should enter and exit our country,” he said.
“For now, all goods, whether
illicit or non-illicit, are banned from going and coming into Nigeria.
“Let me add that for the avoidance
of doubt that we included all goods because all goods can equally come through
our seaports.
“For that reason, we have deemed
it necessary for now that importers of such goods should go through our
controlled boarders where we have scanners to verify the kind of goods and how
healthy to our people can be conducted.”
He insisted that despite the rights
for movement of persons the enabling ECOWAS protocols, there must be primacy of
security over such rights.
Ali, who was asked whether the
federal government had not breached the rights of the citizenry to movement and
international trade, said: “when it comes to security, all laws take back a
seat.
“We want to our nation, we want
make sure that our people are protected. You must be alive and well for you to
begin to ask for your rights. Your rights come when you are well and alive.
“Go and the people in Maiduguri
when Boko Haram was harassing their lives, the only question was survival,
there is no question of right. This time Nigeria must survive first then before
we begin to ask for our rights.”
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