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  • Border Closure: These Are All The Seized Items

    Border Closure: These Are All The Seized Items

    Citizen is a column that explains how the government’s policies fucks citizens and how we can unfuck ourselves.

    On August 20th, 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria introduced “Operation Ex-Swift Response”. The goal of the operation was to reduce insecurity through a complete closure of Nigeria’s land borders.

    In the operation, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), came together to tackle terrorism, armed banditry, smuggling, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and other things.

    Over a year later, the Federal Government of Nigeria has now called off the operation and has consequently reopened four of Nigeria’s land borders – Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfun.

    Read: Border Crossings In Africa Ranked From Most To Least Stressful

    According to the Nigerian Customs Service, these are the illegal items that were seized during the course of the operation:

    1) 134,042 bags of parboiled foreign rice

    2) 9,600 bags of NPK fertilizer

    3) 1,791 vehicles

    4) 3,565,461.9 litres of petrol

    5) 5,007 drums filled with petrol

    6) 68,436.3 jerrycans of petrol

    7) 130 engine boats

    8) 847 motorcycles

    9) 17,212.6 jerrycans of vegetable oil

    10) 813 packs of Tramadol

    11) 274 bags of cannabis

    The Nigerian Customs Service also put the value of these items seized at ₦11,030,062,952.50 naira.

    Read: “Border Closure Is Only Enriching People: A Week In The Life Of A Smuggler”

    We hope you’ve learned a thing or two about how to unfuck yourself when the Nigerian government moves mad. Check back every weekday for more Zikoko Citizen explainers.

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    Doyin Olagunju

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  • Border Crossings In West Africa, Ranked From Most To Least Stressful

    Border Crossings In West Africa, Ranked From Most To Least Stressful

    Crossing any border can get very tedious, but West African borders rank the highest on the spectrum because the process can drive you up the wall (most times). We’ve been travelling around West Africa by road and so far, we’ve had 9 border crossings. I decided to rank them from the most stressful to the least one.

    • Ivory Coast to Liberia

    For us (the Jollof Road team), this border crossing wasn’t difficult in terms of the bureaucracy. The problem was the bad roads. We couldn’t continue the journey into Liberia because the roads were unmotorable. So we returned to Ivory Coast, and then followed the guinea route in order to get into the country.

    If you ever want to visit Liberia by road from Ivory Coast, avoid the Gbinta border route. But if you think you’re Dominic Toretto, go ahead!

    • Liberia to Sierra Leone

    Crossing this border was a bit of a breeze, but there was one thing. Bad roads. So bad the team had to sleep overnight in Black (the bus) because it got stuck in mud. Make sure you’re driving a jeep wrangler with 45-inch tires if you want to be able to weather the storm that is bad roads.

    • Togo to Ghana

    You will need argent and an “agent” for this one. Why? Z. However, this is not enough to help ease the long process. It will still take about 3 hours to sort out paperwork and to do a vehicle inspection. That’s enough time to reduce your brain cells, but don’t be grumpy, time flies while you’re having fun.

    Ps: If you’re still trying to figure out what argent is, I’ll help. It’s French for money.

    • Benin to Togo

    With the help of an “agent”, it only takes about an hour to cross the border into Togo. But don’t get too excited, because you will have to make some unnecessary payments. Like 1000 XOF, if you have a “virgin” passport.

    • Ghana to Ivory Coast

    The process is simple if you ignore the rude border officers. They follow due process. No fee required. No palms to grease.

    • Nigeria to Benin

    Thanks (but no thanks) to Bubucakes, crossing this border was a walk in the park for us. About two months ago, he ordered the closure of the border to clamp down on illegal trade. And as a result, traffic congestion has reduced.

    Haneefa Mohammad

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