At the Gateway: Seme Customs Chief Courts Kings and Commanders to Free the Lagos–Abidjan Corridor
By Lod Onyeji *BADAGRY, NIGERIA* — In a bid to dismantle the bureaucratic and physical bottlenecks strangling commerce along West Africa’s busiest border, the Nigeria Customs Service, Seme Area Command, has launched an ambitious round of diplomacy with the custodians of tradition and security. Comptroller Ben Oramalugo Kaila, newly posted as Area Controller, spent last week traversing palaces and barracks from Badagry to the Republic of Benin frontier, making a single case: legitimate trade cannot thrive without trust. “Our mandate is threefold — revenue, trade facilitation, and anti-smuggling,” Kaila told the royal court of the Akran of Badagry. “But none of it works without the blessing and cooperation of traditional rulers. Customs does not operate in a vacuum.” The visit began on a somber note as Kaila offered condolences on the passing of HRM De Wheno Aholu Menu Toyi I, a monarch long regarded as a stabilizing voice across the border communities. King Regent Chief Abel Ogunbiyi re...
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