Nigeria’s border, the true story
With Uche Nnadozie
Three years ago I in company with some friends travelled to Badagry to
make enquires about coconut oil. This was after we had concluded that
there was something worth trying there. We met a couple of suppliers.
They gave us the information we needed. We were happy and made up our
minds that we have found a side hustle. But there was another man we
needed to see. After sometime the man turned up. We were told he
supplies the best coconut oil. We looked at his oil, tasted it and
agreed on other terms. Before we left, I asked a casual question
because all the while I took it for granted. I asked him where the oil
comes from. He said Ghana! I retorted, Ghana Ke. He said yes and went
on to school us on why it had to be that West African country.
On our way back to Lagos I was troubled. Because when he was asked
about the coconuts that populate Badagry he laughed and said those
ones are not enough for eating not to talk of making oil. I told
myself that if it is Ghana, then it was better we go to Ghana
ourselves rather than rely on a third party. I also told myself that
alternatively it will be better to abandon the idea if we were going
to import coconut oil we do not know the source and which may have
been adulterated. Thinking deeper revealed to me why as a country we
lack jobs, economic growth and development. It was evident at the time
and today that our problem is certainly we the people which also
includes the government.
How can Ghana, a country of 238, 535 square kilometers provide Nigeria
with 923, 768 square kilometers coconut oil? Don’t get me wrong, it is
possible, but in our case it is not because we do not have the soil to
grow coconuts or something like that. Truth is, coconut grow and do
very well in all southern states in Nigeria. Southern Nigeria is still
bigger than Ghana. In fact coconuts grow in some northern states. So
what did Ghana do that we have not done such that small Ghana will now
become our supplier of coconut oil and coconut itself.
Lets crossover to cocoa, cocoa grows in all southern states, yet Ghana
is the bigger cocoa exporter than Nigeria. Whereas we can take away
what they export to Europe by making chocolates, chocolate beverages
among other derivatives from the value chain here at home. We should
be number one cocoa grower in the world, but we are not. This is so
for several other farm produce. We still import beans from Burkina
Faso to augment what we do at home. We import things from Gambia among
other West African countries which we can produce at home.
Since our borders were closed some people have mounted pressure for
those borders to be opened. They say border closure is killing their
businesses. It’s like armed robbers coming to the open to tell
government to withdraw the police because police is spoiling their
business. Yes the ECOWAS convention allows for free movement of goods
and services within the sub region. But the goods must be those
produced in those member states. Benin Republic shares borders with
us, we have endured their indignity for many years, it is time to tell
them the truth. There is absolutely no reason for Benin to allow their
ports bring in rice which they know they don’t eat just for that rice
to find their ways into our country in the name of ECOWAS treaty.
Benin does not eat parboiled rice. It is white rice they eat. Suddenly
after Nigeria began to produce her own rice, Benin became the largest
importer of rice for a country that is less than 10 million people.
Which means rice merchants from Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Thailand,
etc set up shops in Benin to smuggle rice into Nigeria. I have stated
this sometime ago when I attended a food fair only to find those guys
coming into our country to display their rice with all their addresses
reading Benin Republic. I recall that they told me how to smuggle it
in. they said I should just pay for rice, pay for the transportation
and see the consignment at my address. This is first rate economic
sabotage.
With the Benin example, what do we do with people who have invested
money in rice farming and milling? How will they make their money if
people are bent on smuggling rice through our borders? This is not
restricted to rice anyway. There are many such products which we can
conveniently produce at home, unfortunately our people are proud to
announce that the product was imported. There should not be politics
in this matter. This touches at the very root of what is wrong with
us.
I am certain that if government can reorganize their “eat what we
produce, produce what we eat” policy Nigeria can within two years
create 5 million jobs from farming alone. This is aside the number of
farmers presently. If we stop importation of fish and stall the
smuggling of poultry, make accessing agric loans easy by encouraging
cooperatives, ensure the full implementation of the National Livestock
Plan, we will do more than 5 million jobs. We are just here suffering
for nothing. we want to be big men without work. We want to stay in
air conditioned rooms and import virtually everything. Yet we turn
around to blame Nigeria for our woes. I support the closure of the
border. Benin must close its ports to people who kill our initiatives
at home. If they do not do that, we’ll pull out of ECOWAS and close
our borders permanently. Enough of “big brother” without big pocket!