Business News
Seme Border partial closure to restrict rice importation – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the partial closure of the Nigeria-Benin border was to restrict the massive illegal importation of rice into Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the partial closure of the Nigeria-Benin border was to restrict the massive illegal importation of rice into Nigeria.
The President disclosed this during a session with his Beninois counterpart, Patrice Talon, on the sidelines of the 7th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD7), in Yokohama, Japan on Wednesday.
The Partial Closure: According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari said the massive illegal importation of rice across the Nigeria-Benin border was threatening his administration’s food sufficiency policy.
“Now that our people in the rural areas are going back to their farms, and the country has saved huge sums of money which would otherwise have been expended on importing rice using our scarce foreign reserves, we cannot allow smuggling of the product at such alarming proportions to continue.”
According to the President, the partial closure of the country’s western border was to allow Nigeria’s security forces to develop a strategy on how to stem the dangerous trend and its wider ramifications.
[READ MORE: CBN initiates move to implement FOREX ban on milk importation]
While responding to the concerns raised by President Talon on the magnitude of suffering caused by the closure, President Buhari disclosed that the measure was taken in the interest of the country in the short term. He added he might reconsider reopening the border in the not too distant future.
The back-story: Nairametrics Learnt that the Seme border, a major border which crosses between Nigeria and the Benin Republic remained closed on Wednesday without formal notice, leaving thousands of people and vehicles stranded on both sides.
According to a source, the border which is believed to be the busiest land crossing in Nigeria was shut after some truckloads of prohibited tramadol and codeine were intercepted in Lagos on August 16.
Speaking earlier on the closure, the Spokesman for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Joseph Attah, disclosed that the border could remain closed for the next 28 days. Also, Attah stated that the joint security team at the border will remain for the next 28 days.
“However, as I have always repeated, the borders are not closed. People with legitimate businesses and reasons are moving across the borders. If people stayed away from the borders, then ask if they are into legitimate businesses”
Seme-Border on Wednesday 28th – Photo Credit – Punch
Recent Development: The move by the President to announce partial closure of the Nigeria-Benin border is obviously a follow up to the recent policy moves by the government to completely shut out the importation of food items.
Note that rice was included as part of the 41 items that would not be granted access to FOREX. The President has added more items in recent times. This, according to the government is intended to drive down the country’s import bill due to the depleting foreign reserves.
Already, Nigerians are raising concerns over the closure of the border as early findings suggest the price of the commodity is now jacking up due to hoarding and panic buying following the announcement.
In the meantime, the President has stated that a meeting with his counterparts from Benin and the Niger Republic would soon be called to determine strict and comprehensive measures to curtail the level of smuggling across their borders.
[READ ALSO: Buhari’s CBN policies may drag the Nigerian economy into crisis – Fitch]
Coronavirus
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
On the 7th of March 2021, 269 new confirmed cases and 5 deaths were recorded in Nigeria
The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 158,506 confirmed cases.
On the 7th of March 2021, 269 new confirmed cases and 5 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
To date, 158,506 cases have been confirmed, 137,875 cases have been discharged and 1,969 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
A total of 1.54 million tests have been carried out as of March 7th, 2021 compared to 1.49 million tests a day earlier.
COVID-19 Case Updates- 7th March 2021,
- Total Number of Cases – 158,506
- Total Number Discharged – 137,890
- Total Deaths – 1,969
- Total Tests Carried out – 1,544,008
According to the NCDC, the 269 new cases are reported from 19 states- Enugu (78), Bauchi (37), Rivers (22), Imo (18), Ogun (16), FCT (15), Akwa Ibom (13), Kaduna (13), Kebbi (11), Kwara (9), Edo(7), Ekiti (6), Borno (5), Yobe(5), Kano (4) Nasarawa (3), Osun (3), Anambra (2) and Plateau (2).
Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 56,444, followed by Abuja (19,350), Plateau (8,944), Kaduna (8,658), Oyo (6,766), Rivers (6,680), Edo (4,670), Ogun (4,437), Kano (3,844), Ondo (3,066), Kwara (2,962), Delta (2,582), Osun (2,457), Nasarawa (2,251), Enugu (2,156), Katsina (2,060), Gombe (2,010), Ebonyi (1,951), Anambra (1,813), Akwa Ibom (1,610), and Abia (1,588).
Imo State has recorded 1,569 cases, Borno (1,308), Bauchi (1,274), Benue (1,188), Adamawa (942), Niger (919), Taraba (863), Ekiti (834), Bayelsa (779), Sokoto (769), Jigawa (496), Kebbi (412), Cross River (334), Yobe (293), Zamfara (222), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.
READ ALSO: COVID-19: Western diplomats warn of disease explosion, poor handling by government
Lock Down and Curfew
In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.
The movement restriction, which was extended by another two weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.
On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.
On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State announced the closed down of the Eti-Osa Isolation Centre, with effect from Friday, 31st July 2020. He also mentioned that the Agidingbi Isolation Centre would also be closed and the patients relocated to a large capacity centre.
Due to the increased number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria, the Nigerian government ordered the reopening of Isolation and treatment centres in the country on Thursday, 10th December 2020.
On 26th January 2021, the Federal Government announced the extension of the guidelines of phase 3 of the eased lockdown by one month following the rising cases of the coronavirus disease in the country and the expiration of phase 3 of the eased lockdown.
On 28th February 2021, the federal government confirmed that the first tranche of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021.
On Tuesday, 2nd March 2021, the National Primary health Care Development Agency announced the arrival of the expected COVX Astrazeneca/Oxford covid-19 vaccines.
On Saturday, 6th March 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo received vaccination against the covid-19 as the State House in Abuja.
READ ALSO: Bill Gates says Trump’s WHO funding suspension is dangerous
Tech News
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