TheCable

A month after Nigeria was certified Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the possibility of re-infection through the land border with Republic of Benin remains high, an investigation by TheCable has revealed. 

Passengers passing through international airports are thoroughly screened, with everyone required to fill a contact-tracing form ─ in addition to undergoing a body temperature check (pictured above).

But the Nigeria-Republic of Benin land border ─ freely used on a daily basis by millions of West African travellers, potentially including those who have visited Ebola-hit countries such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone ─ is grossly under-policed.

Although checks are carried out at certain entry points, there are over 20 illegal routes identified by TheCable where travellers do not undergo any form of screening at all.

Some of those routes are used for smuggling and at least six Nigerian states, which share border with Benin, are at risk. Travellers can enter Nigeria through Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Niger and Kebbi states.

An illegal route at Seme where travellers escape screening

Abdul Asiyanbi, a resident of Oyo state who recently travelled to parts of Benin through Kwara and Oyo states, told TheCable that there were no posts for Ebola screening.

“I departed Nigeria through Kenu village in Baruten local government area of Kwara state on Thursday. There was no screening whatsoever. I only paid trans-border charges when I wanted to enter Kabou in Benin Republic,” he said.

“We just saw publicity materials of Ebola posted around border communities but there was no one to screen. On Sunday when I was returning, I passed through the towns of Nattingou, Parakou, Chikanda, all in Benin, to link Saki in Oyo state, still no screening.”

While there were no provisions at all for screening in Kwara and Oyo states, even the one done in the border communities in Lagos had glaring lapses.

Based on the proximity of Cotonou, capital of Benin, to Lagos, the commercial hub of West Africa, there is usually an influx of people crossing into both countries. They cross from Lagos into Seme and Owode Apa, the communities sharing land border with Benin.

Nigeria-Benin border

Commercial activities in these towns were very high on Tuesday, November 18, when TheCable visited. Checkpoints were mounted by personnel of Nigerian customs service, Nigerian immigration service, Nigerian police force and other officers in plain clothes.

The Port Health Services, which is in charge of screening incoming travellers, had officials in strategic places, while Beninoise officials were also screening Nigerians travelling into their country.

However, the many illegal routes constituted a major challenge with Seme and Owode Apa borders.

TheCable observed not less than seven such routes in each of those border communities. Motorcycles had their route, while vehicles and tricycles had theirs as well.

Commenting on the porosity of the border, a senior official of one of the agencies who asked not to be named, expressed his displeasure.

A passenger filling contact-tracing form at a legal route

“The present state of the border is nothing to write home about. It will cost Nigeria just a little amount of money to secure the border. The government should erect a fence and get people to man it,” the official said.

He explained that securing the border would reduce smuggling and also help improve health security, and revealed that there were about 4,417 illegal routes into Nigeria through which Ebola could gain access into the country.

However, a top official of Port Health Services, who also did not want to be named, said all the routes within Seme and Owode Apa, both legal and illegal, were being manned.

“We have gone round to locate all the illegal routes both here and at Owode Apa and our officers are manning everywhere,” he said.

“We also have our people at Sawa, around Owode Apa… that is a place where travellers converge after arriving the country. Our people are also at Gbaji and the reason is to screen those who escaped at the border.”

Smuggling is lucrative for security agents who conspire to look the other way

TheCable did not locate of such screening posts at illegal routes.

Popogbe Houtounji, a trader who shuttles between both countries every week, said she had not undergone a single screening in the course of travels in the last five months.

“Oga, se you get Ebola?” the middle-aged woman mocked the reporter.

“I cross the border frequently and the officers know me, so why should they screen me? I only tell them where I am going and they allow me passage.”

Sewubo Zosu, the commercial motorcyclist who took the reporter round, did not agree with Houtounji, saying the officials were effective.

“They have the information of everybody,” he said.

“You cannot escape screening no matter who you are. When the officials came newly, they went round the community to sensitise us and we cooperated with them by showing them all the routes that people pass and their officers are there to screen everyone.”

Some of the ‘Keregbe boys’. They extort travellers to facilitate passage

However, to corroborate Houtounji’s claim, at no point was this reporter subjected to screening throughout the period he crisscrossed the border towns and the reason is simple: the motorcyclist at Seme is a son of the soil and that of Owode Apa was well-known locally too.

At the wave of their hands, the ropes that served as barricades were lowered. Those who had the misfortune of boarding the bikes of unknown cyclists were exploited, particularly by young men popularly called ‘Keregbe’.

Investigations revealed that they front for security officers and take returns to them at the end of each day.

At Seme alone, this reporter counted about 40 of such people having a field day at the expense of travellers.

Zosu himself was not screened.

Zosu, the “highly connected” motorcyclist

“Oga! It’s because of me,” he said. “They know me well and they are sure that you are here from Nigeria but if you were coming from outside, they would not allow you.”

Unfortunately, Ebola infection can occur at any time. As it could take up to 21 days for symptoms to show, screening someone yesterday does not mean they should not be screened again today.

The health officials in Benin Republic would not entertain questions and would not allow pictures but the reporter observed that there were about four screening points.

When the Nigerian health official was asked why some people could pass through the border without being examined, he said: “Seme and Owode Apa are communities with two countries.

“Most of the people that cross the borders will tell you I want to see my brother there. Look at my wife here. So our hands are tied and we have to allow them go.

“Some of them pass more than 10 times a day. To be honest with you, we screen them but not all the time.”

In fairness, some screening still goes on

TheCable observed that the health officials were doing a thorough job with travellers passing through the proper channel. For instance, two buses conveying travellers from Ghana to Nigeria were stopped, while passengers filled contact-tracing forms and were also screened.

“People don’t value public health workers until there is an epidemic,” a health official at Owode Apa told TheCable.

“We are trying our best to ensure that there are no problems. But I must confess that we are working under very terrible conditions here.

“We have been in the sun for over two hours and that is how it is everyday. Sometimes, the people changing money here even harass us. They ask us to move our tents at times and they go violent.”

Just about the time when the brief interview was to end, he dropped a little bombshell.

“We are doing our best here to ensure that no one comes in unchecked. But if an Ebola patient sneaks in through any of those illegal routes, then we will be in trouble. Big trouble and the government knows this.”

President Goodluck Jonathan has been preaching vigilance to Nigerians since the country was certified Ebola-free, but that message is better relayed to the security agencies at the border.