Envoy decries poor implementation of ECOWAS protocol

Consul-General of Embassy of Benin Republic in Nigeria Adegnika Falade decried the poor implementation of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement of people and goods.

Speaking with the Newsmen in Lagos, Falade noted that its poor implementation was adversely affecting free flow of goods and movement of people between Nigeria and Republic of Benin.

“Obviously, the ECOWAS’ protocol on free movement of people and goods is gradually becoming an exercise in futility due to its poor implementation among member-countries. Nigerian and Benin traders and travellers often recount the ordeals they go through in the course of moving goods across the borders in the hands of customs officers, police, army and other security agencies,” he said.

Falade said that some of the affected Benin traders had inundated his office with complaints of extortions and harassments by security agents at the borders.