Market News

By Anozie Egole

Licensed customs agents operating at Seme Border have blamed the fluctuating rate of CFA against the naira for the 90 per cent drop in activities at the border.

The Special Adviser to the President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Seme Chapter, Mr Godon Ogonnanya, disclosed this in a chat with The PUNCH in Lagos on Tuesday.

He noted that activities were booming at the border post when CFA was weaker than the naira.

He explained that importation through the land border was usually more expensive because importers had to pay duties at the port of origin and the Nigerian border at Seme.

“Trade activities have dropped by about 90 per cent but things are changing gradually. It is not something that can change overnight. The major challenge is the fluctuating rate of CFA. For example, today it would be N2,000 to one CFA, and tomorrow it will change to N,3000 against the CFA.

“The CFA rate is the reason activities are low here. In those days when the CFA was a little bit down, activities were much there but now that the rate has gone up, it is affecting the business. Because, after clearing at the border in Cotonuo, by the time you get to the Nigerian border the rate of CFA would now come up again,” he stated.

Ogonnanya expressed hope that things would gradually recover at the borders.

“The challenging thing is that what you would spend to clear the goods at Cotonuo Port for the Benin Republic government including the transport before you get to Seme to clear with the Nigerian government before the goods would be allowed into the country, all these add to the cost including the high rate of CFA and dollar,” he explained.

According to Ogonnanya, the recent policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, whereby, the naira has started gaining value is gradually normalising things.

“You know the mode of clearing in land border and seaports are not the same, we have our way of clearing here.

“People prefer to use the land borders because the land border is faster, your goods leave the border faster than in the seaport,” he explained.

A chieftain of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Mr Lasisi Fanu, said, “In Cotonuo port you pay to clear goods there and when you get to the Seme Border you would still clear the goods the way you do at Apapa, Tincan or any other port in Nigeria. That is the reason businesses are not flourishing here

“Because what we pay at Cotonuo Port before getting to Seme Border does not apply to any other ports in Lagos and that discourages importers. Because of this, activities in the border have dropped by 90 per cent.”

Recall that the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi in 2023, announced that Nigerian importers would soon be able to clear their goods from the ports in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

He disclosed this in Abuja at the end of a two-day working visit by senior officials of the customs service of Benin Republic.

“We are building confidence in the system offered by the Republic of Benin. Our importers are using their ports and vice-versa. If there are people in the Benin Republic who want to use our ports, we try to build trust in our systems.

“And by this agreement, Nigerian importers willing to use the ports in Cotonou can have their goods cleared in those ports because there would be an opportunity for them to pay duties on goods that are liable for payment of duties.

“We can account for the duties on those goods in the ports of arrival. So, they will now be free to enter Nigeria,” Adeniyi said.