Story by Dili Utomi.
The many potentials that the ancient city of Badagry is endowed with came under the spotlight on Friday as the various speakers at the event suggested how to go beyond the present perception of the city as a place that breads smugglers.
The occassion was the celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Baggage Magazine as well as the launch of the book titled “Violation Of ECOWAS Protocol”. The Editor-in-Chief of the Magazine and the writer of the book is an erudite personality, Okey Chikezie Iroegbu. His presentation on “Why Lagos State Should Invest In Badagry” traced the historical, economic and administrative importance of Badagry to the present situation of neglect.
Historically, Iroegbu said “Badagry was a British trading post which was established there in the 1820s, and Badagry developed as a palm-oil port for Egbaland to the north and as an importer of European cloth. In the 1830s it attracted freed slaves from Freetown (Sierra Leone) and in 1842, it became the site of the first European mission”.
Mr. Iroegbu added that “With her large harbour landscape, the ancient kingdom has every attribute for great economic potentials. With large agricultural and fishery options, to trade route, tourism and a once upon a time slave colony, Badagry has every reason to be endowed with economic opportunities”.
He noted that “The kingdom is mapped as tourism divisions in Lagos and left for historians, students and the people of these areas as laboratories of yesterday’s dreams and abodes for cemeteries of dead imperialists’ and colonialists who buffeted these places, raped the land and carried away the founding human resources and left Badagry as ghost lands”.
He also suggested that Badagry should be seen as a viable economic hub for the promotion and development of Tourism, Oil and Gas and Maritime economies must prepare the minds of the indigenes to the emerging new investments in Tourism, Oil and Gas and Maritime investments.
Barrister Ejike Metu in his presentation “Badagry: Nigerian Gateway To ECOWAS Trade Facilitations”, focused more on the multiplicity of security check points along the Badagry-Abidjan corridor which have seriously threatened to undermine trade, tourism and national pride.
He suggested that “In your minds you may be imagining that the time to achieve this is now. Yes the time is not far off to rewrite this incongruity. The royal fathers should see it as a responsibility they owe their subjects to better these situations. With one accord they can say no to multiple checkpoints which have presented the area as a war zone”.
“They can specifically scrap Agbara Customs checkpoint as this has become an albatross to the commercial development of this area. They can assist the hapless freight forwarders to ask the customs management to intervene in some of their stringent policies on transit and delivery of goods along this ECOWAS corridor which has eluded them in the time past”.
Other speakers, such as Dr. Nurudeen Audu of NAFDAC, Dr. Idris Yahaya of BACCIMA, Chief Stephen Etolue, Mr Busuriyu Fanu and the representative of the NDLEA all spoke about some of the issues plaguing Badagry and also made recommendations for actionable solutions. These include:
The complete repair of the roads for easy movement of people.
That trade facilitation should be made to come to reallty as multiple check points have wrecked the economy of the area.
That the media should shine the spotlight on the activities of security agencies in the area especially at night when the check points are deemed to multiply.
The police Border patrol should be pruned down and should be trained to have local knowledge of the areas and be properly equipped to deal with issues. Government should also look into the complaints by the local people about the security agencies.
Freight forwarders and licensed Customs agents should realise that the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is at the border to do their job and should cooperate with the agency.
Ease of doing business starts with the importer and so they should make honest declaration of all imported cargoes.
Biometric identification card should be made for cross border traders to ease movements.
The volume of work exceeds the capacity of the NDLEA as drugs policies are changing in countries around us especially in the case Ghana and so better agency collaboration is needed.
Education to keep the young ones away from drug use is so crucial.
That the public also need more education on the effect of driving under the influence and the federal road safety corps should continually do this.
Professional/trained drivers should always be employed especially as regards truck driving.
The various government agencies should engage in more corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Badagry area to engender social inclusion.
Two major items are smuggled out and into Nigeria and these are premium motor spirit and rice. More refineries should be built in Nigeria to meet the demands of Nigeria and those of our neighbours and the county’s local farmers should be encouraged to grow more rice to meet the national demands and for export.
That the tourism, port, shipping and industrial potentials of Badagry should be explored for greater benefits especially to discourage the people of the area from engaging in smuggling activities.
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