Lagos, Nigeria,11/29 - Nigeria has lifted a ban it slammed on theimportation of textiles and five other products from neighbouring Benin.

The lifting of the ban, announced in Abuja at the weekend by Financeminister of State Nenadi Usman, followed a bilateral agreement between thetwo countries under the Benin-Nigeria Joint Committee on Commerce.

Other products now cleared to enter the Nigerian market through threedesignated entry points include cottonseed, vegetable oil and palm kernel.

"The business community in Benin had requested that the Nigeriangovernment should open up the Nigeria-Benin borders to enable them bringin certain goods needed by Nigerians," the minister said.

"The [Nigerian] President is not opposed to the idea but advised that thedue process should be followed. This prompted the establishment of theNigeria-Benin Joint Committee on Commerce," she said.

In a related development, Nigerian police have returned to their Benincounterpart an AK 47 rifle and 35 rounds of ammunition recovered from somearmed robbers who snatched the gun from Benin gendarmes.

According to the local press, the gun and ammunition were handed over tothe director-general, national police of Benin, Ale Ibrahim Abassi, duringa ceremony in Lagos.

Nigeria and Benin have launched a joint patrol along their land borders tocheck the activities of smugglers and cross border bandits