Maize and 7 other items that remain banned from exports despite border reopening

The border had been closed for over a year as the federal government moved to stop smuggling and protect local manufacturers.

The minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, who announced the reopening of the four borders, added that the remaining ones will be reopened on or before Thursday, December 31.

However, information on the website of the Nigeria Customs Service indicates that at least eight items remain prohibited from being exported out of Nigeria.

The list of the items on the export prohibition list is also reproduced on the Nigeria Single Window Trade Portal and Nigerian Shippers Council's website.

See the list below:

1. Maize

2. Timber (rough or sawn)

3. Raw hides and skin (including Wet Blue and all unfinished leather)

4. Scrap Metals

5. Unprocessed rubber latex and rubber lumps

6. Artifacts and Antiquities

7. Wildlife animals classified as endangered species and their products (e.g. Crocodile, Elephant, Lizard, Eagle, Monkey, Zebra, Lion etc.)

8. All goods imported

Similarly, there are at least 26 items that remain banned from being imported into Nigeria despite the reopening of the land borders.

Some of the items include rice, live or dead birds like frozen poultry, pork and beef, bird’s eggs, excluding hatching eggs, refined vegetable oils and fats (includes mayonnaise), cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose.

Earlier,Legit.ng reported that Senator Shehu Sani on Wednesday, December 16, said the closure of land borders inflicted hardship on Nigerians and worsened the economic situation of the nation.

The former Kaduna federal lawmaker added that the border closure did not yield any result.

Sani countered the earlier claim made by the federal government that the 16-month border closure helped boost the country’s agricultural output or rice production, noting that it wasn't true.