Press Release 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide had  described the spate of smuggling across the country’s borders as worrisome, Economic sabotage and illegal flourishing business ventures between the Smugglers and collaborative efforts/partnership of corrupt Customs officials and Igbo  Youths Call on President Muhammadu Buhari to take appropriate actions to relieve tensions and slightly open our borders with stiff restrictions and regulations to prevent incessant sabotage by smugglers to flood our markets with foreign goods during these festive period without Government earning no revenue. 

OYC insists that seme border has been closed for too long, the closure by Federal Government was meant to check smuggling and economic sabotage  but Unfortunately  the smugglers took advantages of the long time closure to develop a thousand bush paths, cars,foreign rice, ship loads of poultry and frozen foods pour into the country from cotonou every night, imagine atleast 100,000 bikes meandering the bushes at the same time.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Government should know its time to reopen our borders because smuggling has been taken to the next level, Goverment are losing huge revenues, FG must muscle Benin Republic into adopting tariffs or Jointly tracking of goods that enters into Cotonou ports to Nigeria,as adequate measures to curb illegal trade and funds allegedly controlled by customs officials in partnership with smugglers must be put in place through reopening  of the nation’s borders with stiff regulations as its done in Ghana/ Togo borders and Benin Republic/Togo borders to increase revenues for Federal Government as part  of Government’s post covid 19 economic recovery programmes. 

Igbo Youths frowned on the leverages” waivers “gracefully granted to Dangote Groups and few others by  Federal Government either to ‘ export or import ‘ through the shut borders as unfair, unwise and an indictment of nepotistic  corruption and favouritism on the side of Government, most of the abuses that are perpetuated at our ports and borders are perpetrated through special Government’s waivers. 

President Muhammadu Buhari should direct relevant agencies to reopen the nation’s borders during these festive period, as the closure was supposed to be an integral part of interim measures before a stronger economic policies are found against rampant smuggling,but its unimaginable to see that the interim measures had successfully failed to checkmate the excesses of smuggling, as the most flourishing businesses now in Nigeria is “smuggling”,illegal done even at closed borders. 

Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro 

President General 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide 

Comrade Obinna Achionye 

Deputy President 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide 

Mazi Okwu Nnabuike 

Secretary General 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide