FG to Reopen Land Borders ‘Now That the Message Has Sunk in With Neighbours’

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said Nigeria’s land borders will be reopened very soon after successfully warning neighbouring countries that Nigeria will not tolerate smuggling of weapons and drugs through its land borders.

Speaking after a meeting with State Governors, President Buhari said “In my meeting with State Governors today I explained that the closure of Nigeria’s land borders was partly an attempt to control the smuggling in of weapons & drugs. Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours,we’re looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible.”

In August 2019, Buhari closed all the nation’s land borders to curb the smuggling of weapons, food items, drugs and other foreign products that were blamed for the failure of the local market to stimulate local production and enforce the patronage of locally made goods.

However, while the decision has helped up local rice production and consumption, several businesses that rely on land borders to transact with neighbouring countries have shut down operations –leading to a rising unemployment rate of 21.8 million people or 27.1 percent of the nation’s workforce.

Speaking on insecurities, the president said “We are investing heavily in weapons and equipment for our military. They have already received armoured cars and other equipment, and aircraft, and more will come in. We will continue to give them all the support they need to fight criminals. We must and will secure Nigeria.

“Intelligence-gathering is also very critical to ensuring lasting security in Nigeria. In this regard, everyone has a role to play, in addition to the security agencies: Governors, traditional rulers, community leaders, citizens. We must all work to boost intelligence-gathering.”