Border closure: Nigeria’s best bet to thinking inside the box

BY TIAMIYU HIKMAH

Nigeria, the supposed giant of Africa, has over the years been dependent on products from other countries attaching little importance to our locally produced amenities. We have all resources to produce amenities that can meet the needs of our rising 200 million population, but we have always been stereotyped to believing that nothing good really comes from our own fertile end or we chose to believe so because it’s either poorly done or it’s of less quality. Our mode of harnessing intellects into changing the course of retrogressed economy has always hit the rock because virtually everyone wants to leave the country in quest of greener pastures, but have we ever stopped to think that leaving the country poses more danger than good to not only our economy but even to the coming generation as the chain of inferiority complex continues?

A closed border is a border that prevents movement of people between different jurisdictions with limited or no exception associated with this movement. These borders normally have fences or walls in which any gates or border crossings are closed and if these border gates are opened they generally only allow movement of people in exceptional circumstances. Perhaps the most famous example of an extant Nigeria is only allowing in foreign rice through its ports – where since 2013, it has imposed a tax of 70%.The federal government of Nigeria decided to close all borders two months ago and the move is intended not only to raise revenue but also to encourage the local production of rice. Smugglers have been taking advantage of the fact that it is cheaper to import rice to Nigeria’s neighbors than other neighboring country because of the high demand for it.

Comptroller-General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali (Rtd.), has also just announced that the land borders will remain closed pending when Benin and other neighboring African countries stop taking Nigeria for a smuggling destination. They have turned Nigeria into dumpsite and the Federal government promised not to open the border until they stop passing the illegal route into smuggling products into the country and ensure they pass through the normal Apapa or Tin Can port where they can be charged port duties thus even increasing our revenue. This policy seems effective because there would be a thorough check on the items entering the country. Recently, Thailand had to lay off some of their staffs making a proposition to the Nigerian government on developing a milling company in Nigeria. And you are still there thinking it’s not effective?

Let’s leave the outer realm and check the state of things in the country: our market and our households. Rice is now being sold for a sum of 22,000 naira per bag. When we get to the market, some sellers still choose to lie about selling 10 cups at 900 naira, claiming it is imported. I had a personal experience with a particular seller who chose to sell that same 10 cups to me at a cost of 900 naira and local rice for 600 naira, but sold it to a customs officer at 300 naira because he asked what type of rice he sells, but because he couldn’t identity him, he gave him the same pricelist I had and at this point the officer’s identity had to be disclosed, threatening to confiscate of his goods which the seller had to apologize and confess that there was never any imported rice in market and that all the rice in the market is local. Our local rice has lately been experiencing some changes as they are finer, smoother and devoid of stones than before, thus, sellers choose to sell at higher price while they exploit the farmers.

We have always been so rigid to changes and that’s one of the reasons we chose to lag behind in every sphere. It’s a choice. We always find a way to bend laws, a wise local man once said “for you to know how difficult we Nigerians are, create a WhatsApp group and put the lay down rules of not posting any broadcast negating the need for the group, we will always defy the rule”. It is innate and it takes only divine intervention and strong will from the end of the victim to change. We love passing blame like we enjoy criticizing a system which all it takes from your end is doing the right thing. That’s why I feel bad when I ask an average Nigerian why he is in the state he is. The first thing that would be voiced out is the government. We stopped thinking about what we possibly could offer to the system and comfortably chose to take from the system. Life is a cycle representing the give and take. No matter how much the government chooses to put into the system, if the citizens keep being reluctant and negligent on our end, it will still end in an unbalanced system.

The border closure is a good start for implementing change and a means of thinking inside the box because all this while we choose to think outside the box which won’t help a developing country with minimum opportunities. Thinking inside the box eliminates options and makes us work with the available amenities we have. Even God has provided each nation the capability to be self-sufficient if only we see it from that end. We are blessed with myriad of resources both intellectually and agricultural-wise, we just are carefree and lazy to utilize them. Now, there’s a ray of hope, a small light that shows that we can always be what we can be if we choose it because as this is not the first time this policy was made and encountered failure. But now that it is effective, we are growing from the crawling stage to the ability of grabbing things.

Hikmah is a student of University of Ibadan