The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Borno State government have commenced arrangements to re-establish cross-border trade in the Northeast.
The acting Comptroller-General Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and the Governor of Borno State, Babagana Umara Zulum, made this known during a meeting in Abuja.
Receiving Zulum at the Customs headquarters, Adeniyi expressed his readiness to improve trade activities in the Northeastern part of Nigeria.
According to the Customs boss, the measure will boost the region’s economy and provide jobs for the people in the state.
Appreciating the long-standing relationship between the Customs and Borno State government in border security and humanitarian services, he affirmed his readiness to support victims of terrorism in the state.
Speaking on enhancing community relations, the CGC said: “Moving forward, we will need your support to engage with members of the border communities in Borno, especially as the insurgency has been degraded. We will build on the good relationship that we have and leverage on it to re-establish a good relationship with Cameroon and, of course, the Southern part of Chad.”
The acting Comptroller-General assured Zulum of his administration’s commitment to engage the military to develop new measures to assist in re-establishing the full structure of cross-border trade in the area.
The governor, who expressed interest in liaising with the service to promote trans-border trade in the Northeast, particularly in Borno State, solicited the cooperation of NCS.
“As peace gradually returns to Borno State, I want to express my readiness to work with the Nigeria Customs Service to enhance transportation of goods between Nigerian, Cameroon, Chad and Niger,” he said.
Zulum congratulated the Customs boss on his appointment, commending the NCS for uplifting the standard of living of the displaced communities in Borno and other parts of Northeastern region.
He applauded the NCS’s good gesture of distributing food and non-food items to the displaced persons in the state, which according to him is alleviating the hardship of the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
He said: “I am here once again to solicit your support to continue distributing food and non-food items to the vulnerable people in Borno State.”
