November 15, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of the Association of Brotherhood Academic Scholars (ABAS), visitations committee, Archbishop Emmanuel Ekuri, has decried the massive extortion going on along West Africa Border Points.
He pointed out that officers of Nigeria Customs, Immigration, Police and other security officials, as well as so-called agents at the Seme (Nigeria), Togo and Aflao (Ghana), borders as the perpetrators.
He spoke to THEWILL following his experience from a visit to Ghana, where his organisation held a one-week inter-faith symposium in Accra, with the theme: Power of Love In A Fractured World.
Narrating his harrowing experience, he said: “When I travelled across the West Coast border yesterday, I got so worried over the ongoing massive extortions, to the extent that I almost stopped the journey due to continual frustrations.
“What I witnessed was appalling, gross, unbecoming and unacceptable. The massive extortions of helpless travellers, harassment, assaults and other forms of corrupt practices by uniformed personnel working at the border such as officers of NIS, Police, DSS, Customs, and Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), to mention just a few.”
The cleric also said it appears passport holders now pay more, as stamping of passports now costs up to 10,000 CFA, while those with ID cards pay less, lamenting that it was really outrageous.
He, therefore, calls on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to concretise the implementation of a common currency for the subregion, saying it is now long overdue.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
