ABUJA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Nigeria has closed its land
borders to all movement of goods and has no timeline for
reopening them, the head of the nation's customs agency said.
"All goods for now are banned from being exported or
imported through our land borders and that is to ensure that we
have total control over what comes in," Hameed Ali,
comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service told
reporters in Abuja this week.
Africa's largest economy launched a partial border closure
in August as part of an effort to curb rice smuggling and there
have been widespread local media reports of a broader closure.
But Ali's announcement was the first official confirmation
of a total shutdown in trade across Nigeria's land borders -
including goods that had been moving legally.
"We are strategising on how best the goods can be handled
when we eventually get to the point where this operation will
relax for the influx of goods," he said. He did not give a
timeline for any relaxation of the controls.
The closure has no impact on Nigeria's oil exports, which
are exported almost entirely via the nation's ports and offshore
oil platforms.