A former President of Ghana, Mr. John Mahama, has urged the Nigerian government to reopen its borders closed since August this year.
Speaking at the seventh anniversary lecture of Realnews Magazine in Lagos on Tuesday, Mahama said: “The unilateral closure of the borders since August is a worrying development for the growth of free trade in the ECOWAS sub-region.
“Off course, one can understand the harmful effects of unbridled smuggling goods on the growth of local production. But it is problematic that sub-regional economic activity and trade should suffer because of domestic institutional weaknesses.”
He said that Nigeria should invest in strengthening its institutions and systems that are responsible for preventing the importation of illegal or prohibited goods.
According to him, the total closure of, especially, the Benin border is having a significant toll on many small and medium businesses especially in Togo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire that rely on this inter-country trade.
“I am sure that businesses in Nigeria that rely on supplies from these countries are also suffering.
“With the signing of the joint border task force agreement between Nigeria and her neighbours, I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to Nigeria to open up her border so that economic activities can resume,” he said.
Mahama, who spoke on “Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa”, lamented that since the signing of the ACfTA, developments in the two biggest African economies have been worrying and that the attacks and expulsion of foreigners from South Africa has been, indeed, most unfortunate considering her history.
He recalled that Africa stood in solidarity with South Africa in the struggle against apartheid.
“It is a slap in the face to see the lynching of fellow Africans as a result of the recent waves of xenophobia in that country. Off course, one does not advocate that foreigners engaged in criminal activity must be entertained in any country,” he said.
Speaking further on Nigeria, Mahama noted that as the largest economy in West Africa, it is not by accident that Nigeria is home to the headquarters of the Economic Community of West Africa States.
“ECOWAS was set up to foster the ideal of collective self-sufficiency for its member states. As a trading union, it is also meant to create a single, large trading bloc through economic cooperation. Integrated economic activities as envisaged in the area revolve around but are not limited to industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial issues, social as well as cultural matters.
“As a former Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, I have an abiding interest in the progress of ECOWAS and its people. I believe that as an economic and regional bloc, a lot of economic opportunities are available to us, and we must take advantage of them,” he added.
GIK/APA