By Joseph Etta
The closure of borders that was supposed to be a welcome development aimed at stimulating the economy and benefit to the Local entrepreneurs is now a source of untold hardship and sorrows to traders in Bakassi and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas in Cross River State.
The traders are decrying of extortion of money from the men of Nigeria Custom. The Custom manned two check points between Akpabuyo and Ikang in Bakassi L.G.A, one is the local custom, that is, men from Cross River State Command in Calabar. The second check point supposedly men from the Federal task force on border closure, whose primary assignment was to prevent goods such as palm oil, rice and other products from coming in from Cameroon Republic through Ikang beach.
Ikang is border town and has a landing and loading beach, where traders, smugglers from Cameroon bring in their wares. It’s a business transaction point between Cameroon and Nigeria traders.
Ikang, a major economic town is situated in Bakassi Local Government Area adjoining Akpabuyo L.G.A. Also, Bakassi/Akpabuyo is an Oil palm producing area, the traders mostly woman conveys the local oil from the areas to the oil palm market in Bogobiri, Marian Market and Mammy market Akim and all palm oil markets in the heart of Calabar town.
The woman complained that custom official collects N200 for every gallon of palm oil they carry to the market. For instance, if you carry 20 gallons of oil, you pay them N5,000 which is supposed to be their profit because the profit margin is low.
They disclosed that now there is no difference between the local and Cameroon oil, you must pay the same “toll gate”, originally the local oil traders are not supposed to pay.
Cameroon traders carrying in the smuggled oil can conveniently pay because they see it as “settlement”.
Kufre, a motorist plying the road – Calabar – Akpabuyo – Bakassi told Daybreak how he daily pays N100 per gallon of oil palm he carries to the Custom officials.
When Daybreak reporter joined the traders vehicle to verified the claim, it was observed that the men of Nigeria Custom had devised a “crude tactics” of extorting money from the people by placing a bucket for every motorist to drop their “offering”, the coin code for money without their physical contact with the motorist and the money.
Daybreak observed that every driver plying the Calabar – Akpabuyo – Ikang road readily knows what to do at every check point. That is the high level of extorting from the men of Nigeria Custom.
An oil merchant in Bogobiri, a major oil palm market, Emmanuel Akpan in a chat with Daybreak says, the women dealing in the Local oil palm, that is palm oil produces locally in Akpabuyo and Bakassi are weeping for extortion by the Custom.
Local oil is different from foreign Cameroon oil they were asked to check – adding that this has rippled effect on the traders, it affects their profit, after settling the Custom that high, they go back home without profit. And in the market, it affects they buyers because it creates an artificial scarcity of the product.
Meanwhile, the Cameroon oil palm is still coming in freely and steadily, even rice is coming in day and night. The Custom Official turned their back to the smugglers because of heavy settlement. He added.
