ABUJA, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Nigeria will keep its land borders
closed to trade until at least January 31, 2020, the customs
spokesman told Reuters on Sunday.
Nigeria launched a partial border closure in August to
tackle smuggling of rice and other goods. Last month the head of
customs confirmed that all trade via land borders was halted
indefinitely. Joseph Attah, spokesman for the Nigerian customs service
said the "present phase" of the closure would end on January 31,
2020, and that would not be the end of the closure.
"The operation is in phases, it will continue until the set
objective is attained," Attah told Reuters by phone.
A private memo sent by the customs service comptroller for
enforcement, Victor Dimka, to colleagues called the closure
operation an "overwhelming success", but said there were some
strategic objectives yet to be achieved.
The memo did not outline which objectives these were.