PRESIDENT, the Badagry Chambers Of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (BACCIMA), Fatai Shokunbi, has lamented that the terrible road network in Badagry, touts and numerous illegal police checkpoints are the greatest obstacles they face and part of what is forcing up the price of goods and food in the country.
He regretted that the obstacles prevent traders from Benin and Togo from coming into the country and they prefer to go to neighbouring countries where they didn’t have to pay numerous bribes.
“Benin has two checkpoints while we have 70 and counting, and you bribe your way through each one; who will want to come and do business in such a place? We have complained to government about this on numerous occasions yet they refuse to do anything, it is a huge shame,” he said.
Speaking with at the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Benin Republic chamber of commerce, he said the agreement would be a game changer for all businesses along that corridor seeing as they do a lot of trade with Cotonou, Togo, Ghana and other neighbouring countries.
He said the collaboration between the two chambers is key so that both parties are not only kept abreast of what each other’s government is doing but also to resuscitate the Seme border which he said is practically dead. He lamented that the border’s closure negatively affected many traders and businesses and even caused the death of some of their members whose goods were seized at the border unfairly.
He pointed out that the Nigerian government was raking in billions from that border and wondered why it was closed for such a long time. The closure, he said, caused not just the government to lose money but businesses also, which caused many of them to fold up.
He said the partnership would facilitate the growth of businesses for both countries as well as improve cross-border trade relations, which he said have deteriorated badly since the closure.
On claims that the border was now open for business, he said it was only open on paper but the reality is a different matter entirely.
“Most of the people doing business here are informal traders, look around, how many people can you see here? Government says it is opened but we have not seen it. The only thing we can see is that trailers are now allowed to come in, but the real food trade of this border is not yet open. We are begging the government to open it fully in truth and in deed.”
Shokunbi said the relationship between both countries was very good in the past to the extent that they did not even acknowledge there was a border between both countries and people from both sides moved freely, intermarried, had businesses and houses in both countries, spoke each other’s languages and adopted each other’s culture. All this he said, changed after the border closure and has affected them badly.
He said their upcoming economic summit would encompass many businesses including traders from Alaba International and the trailer park association and would chart new paths for businesses along that corridor. He pleaded with the president to as a matter of urgency, fix the road network, open the border fully and make Badagry a business zone just like Agbara.
“We need businesses to come here and thrive here so that this place doesn’t die. We have been left behind in terms of development in this state and are only remembered when politicians come to campaign here. We are begging the government to look at Badagry and come to our aid, we have been trying to draw government’s attention to this area, we cannot do it on our own,” he said.
