NRA Boss to Beef Up Logistics at Border Entry Points in Kailahun District.

The spot check came in the wake of heightened efforts by government in the fight against the Corona Virus pandemic in the Country. In this tour, the Commissioner General and team made spot checks to *Koindu (Baidu), Bailu, Buedu and Yenga. KOINDU (Baidu): is a crossing point between Sierra Leone and Liberia (Lofa County). BAILU: opens up a crossing point between Guinea and Sierra Leone. BUEDU: is an Eastern town that shares boundary between Liberia and Sierra Leone. YENGA: is the disputed area between Sierra Leone and Guinea but still holds up a very critical crossing point between Sierra Leone and Guinea. According to the Assistant Commissioner Anti-Smuggling Unit, Border Controls and management, Richard Senessie- who also made the delegation, outlined the undermentioned crossing points are amongst a handful of other unofficial crossing points in that part of the country. With the visit of the Commissioner General, he hopes to deploy more hands to man the affairs of those crossing points, Senessie emphasized. When addressing the Staff at the various posts, Dr. Jibao made it clear that the visit is to first acquaint himself with the situation on ground in terms of the standard border management operations, the implementation of Governments’ directive in fighting Covid-19, gauging business potential and see what *logistical and administrative concerns are there to address. Being an administrative minded person, Dr. Jibao said the gaps were visibly noticeable and they have the potential to hinder the effective management of revenue potential. These gaps range from inadequate staffing, ineffective management of the institution’s assets and urgent logistical support to the men and women deployed in those areas. When asked about his level of satisfaction on compliance in combating Covid- 19, the NRA Boss said, with the support of other security apparatus in the area, his team was up to the task. The Commissioner of Customs, Abu Kanneh said that addressing the gaps will open a new potential of effective revenue generation in the area. As Customs Commissioner, part of his vision is to increase revenue generation from that part of the Country and to ensure that leakages emanating from porous border management are effectively tackled. Also, part of the delegation was the Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Department Ibrahim Sorie Kamara. In 2019, the Commissioner General made similar visits to the South in places like Pujehun, Jendema, Zimmi. The outcome of this particular move will be to speed up arrangement for efficient border control management and facilitate the beefing up security between Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia amidst the fight against Covid- 19.