Illeila land border still shut despite FG reopening order

Five days after the Federal Government announced the immediate reopening of four land borders across the country, authorities of the Illeila border have failed to comply with such order as they continue to differ on when the border will be reopened.

The two major agents of government whose duties include the monitoring of the border, Customs and Immigration, cannot exactly say when the border will be reopened for use.

Our correspondent who went to the border post on Sunday confirmed that human and vehicular activities were yet resume fully at the border.

The visit was a follow up to the earlier visit of last Thursday. The visit was to confirm the level of activities both at the border and the International Cattle Market in Illeila.

A senior Custom official who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the command iwa yet to receive a signal on when the border post should reopen.

He reaffirmed that officers of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Illeila Border Command were ready to comply with the directive of its parent command in Sokoto.

He said any further arrangement or time of the border reopening should be directed to the state command for proper confirmation.

The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Sokoto State Command, Balarabe, was not available for comments as of the time of filing this report.

The Nigerian Immigration Service at the Illeila border command confirmed its readiness to resume work.

One of its officils who spoke with Nigerian Tribune on Sunday confirmed that a circular had been sent to them from their state headquarters in Sokoto to reopen the border.

He said the officers and men of Nigerian Immigration had resumed their duties in compliance with the circular.

The officer who did not want his name mentioned as he was not authorised to speak with the journalists said the command had started attending to travellers with valid documents.

“Our men have started attending to people with genuine documents to move in and out of the country in accordance with the directive.

The only issue we have now is we cannot attend to people with luggage or goods as that is not part of our responsibility.

“The reason why this place looks quiet is because as a result of no vehicular movement which is not part of our duty but that of customs,” he added

But traders in the town have commended the government for listening to the cries of ordinary citizens by reopening the border.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, Mallam Zubairu, the chairman of cattle sellers at the Illeila International Market commended the decision of the federal executive council.

He said the reopening of the border would no doubt contribute to the economic advancement of not only the residents of the state but also that of the country.

While assuring the federal and the state government that his men would continue to cooperate with relevant security agencies in the area to avoid the breach of security.

The chairman called on Sokoto State government to come to the aid of the traders by fencing the environment where the market is located.

He said if well fenced, the security situation in the area would improve and more revenue would be generated by the state government.

-Tribune