{"id":17030,"date":"2019-10-21T15:21:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T15:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/nigeria\/?p=17030"},"modified":"2019-10-21T15:21:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T15:21:03","slug":"nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s neighbours to blame \u2013 Finance Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Minister of Finance, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zainab_Ahmed\">Zainab Ahmed<\/a>, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) \u201csupports\u2019\u2019 Nigeria\u2019s closure of its land borders because it understands the action is not punitive.<\/p>\n<p>She also said Nigeria\u2019s neighbours are to blame for the border closure.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing journalists in Washington on Sunday, Mrs Ahmed explained that the measure was intended to restore Nigeria\u2019s relationship with its neighbours based on commitments made.<\/p>\n<p>She said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not want to approve the closure because he was mindful of the adverse effect it would have on the economies of neighbours.<\/p>\n<p>According to her, there were several engagements between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries toward securing compliance to the rules, \u201cbut things got worse\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, there will be economic impact on the side of our neighbours due to the border closure, that is a consequence of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a manner of speaking, IMF supports the border closure that we have done because they understand that the closure was not meant to be punitive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was meant for us to restore our relationship with our neighbours back to the commitments that we made.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe commitment that we have among these countries is that goods can come through their ports to Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are supposed to come in sealed containers escorted to Nigeria for the Nigeria Customs Service to inspect the goods and charge them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that is not what is happening. They allow containers to be opened, and also allow goods to be smuggled beyond the formal borders through several illegal routes,\u2019\u2019 she fumed.<\/p>\n<p>The minister reiterated that Nigeria would ensure that rules were obeyed now that it had committed itself to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),\u201c otherwise local industries will suffer\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She said that a lot of discussions were ongoing between Nigeria and the affected countries toward securing their re-commitment to the rules governing cross-border trade.<\/p>\n<p>PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how an IMF official expressed support for the closure.<\/p>\n<p>Abebe Selassie, the Director of the African Department at the IMF, gave the position at a media briefing on the sidelines of the World Bank\/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke in response to a question seeking his views on the compatibility of the border closure with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).<\/p>\n<p>He was responding to a question on whether the closure negates the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).<\/p>\n<p>Mr Selassie said although free trade was critical to the economic growth of the continent, it must be legal and in line with agreements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the border closure in Nigeria which has been impacting Benin and Niger, our understanding is that the action reflects concerns about smuggling that has been taking place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is about illegal trade, which is not what you want to facilitate,\u2019\u2019 Mr Selassie said.<\/p>\n<p>The border closure has affected Nigeria\u2019s neighbours, mainly Benin and Niger who rely on the Nigerian market to sell their products.<\/p>\n<p>The closure has also led to an increase in price of hitherto imported items like foreign rice and poultry products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) \u201csupports\u2019\u2019 Nigeria\u2019s closure of its land borders because it understands the action is not punitive. She also said Nigeria\u2019s neighbours are to blame for the border closure. Addressing journalists in Washington on Sunday, Mrs Ahmed explained that the measure was intended to restore [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":8269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[566,835,1017],"class_list":["post-17030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-imf","tag-minister-of-finance","tag-zainab-ahmed"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria\u2019s neighbours to blame \u2013 Finance Minister - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) \u201csupports\u2019\u2019 Nigeria\u2019s closure of its land borders because\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s neighbours to blame \u2013 Finance Minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) \u201csupports\u2019\u2019 Nigeria\u2019s closure of its land borders because\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-21T15:21:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/04\/1200px-International_Monetary_Fund_logo.svg_.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1223\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"alico\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria\u2019s neighbours to blame \u2013 Finance Minister\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-21T15:21:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister\"},\"wordCount\":517,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/2019\/04\/1200px-International_Monetary_Fund_logo.svg_.png\",\"keywords\":[\"IMF\",\"Minister of Finance\",\"Zainab Ahmed\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerias-neighbours-to-blame-finance-minister\",\"name\":\"Nigeria\u2019s neighbours to blame \u2013 Finance Minister - 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