Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the inauguration of the new Seme-Kraker joint border will foster the common interests of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin.
Nigeria-Benin border to foster common interests –Buhari
Buhari made the announcement at the inauguration of the new Economic Community of West African States Border Posts at Seme-Krake and Neope-Akanu in Badagry.
The new border crossing is to facilitate the movement of people and goods between the two countries.
The president of Benin, Patrice Talon said their ambition is to achieve their objective as soon as possible.
“Bringing our border administrations closer together and connecting them to each other will help to improve their respective performance and the comfort of movement of people and goods,” he added.
On the benefits of the joint border post, which sits on 17 hectares of land, Buhari noted that it would enhance trade facilitation by combining border clearance activities in a single location.
Ketil Karlsen, EU Ambassador to Nigeria reiterated that they need to measure any success in real changes for people coming to the border post. In terms of having shorter transition time, having less extorsion, not seeing as much corruption taking place and less harassments.
“By the end of the day, it translates into job creations, into opportunities, into developments possibilities. This is why it has been an important priority for the European Union over the last years,” Karlsen said.
The joint border post is aimed at enhancing the free movement of persons and goods in the region, it will also serve as a symbol of integration that brings together the peoples of Nigeria and Benin. pic.twitter.com/IvhCw75qUq— LASG Monitoring Team (@LAGOSGMT1) October 24, 2018
The Nigerian authorities sealed off the border between the two countries due to alleged criminal activity across the frontier.