Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has called on President Bola Tinubu to reopen all land borders across Nigeria.
The former lawmaker representing Kaduna-Central, said this in an interview with Newsmen yesterday.
According to him, reopening of the borders was necessary to allow for free trade in line with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol. He opined that the closure of borders over the years, “killed the Nigerian economy”.
According to Sani, the development plunged a lot of Nigerians into abject poverty, particularly those at the border communities. He said the policy while impoverishing an average Nigerian, enriched the rich.
The former lawmaker said besides the economic challenges being encountered, the shutting down of borders against other African countries was disturbing. He further said, rather than closing borders, they should be open to free trade while relevant agencies of government manned the borders properly.
Also, an Agricultural Economist, Federal University of Technology Minna, Prof. Job Nmadu, said reopening of land borders would ease movement of legitimate goods and services. He said it would also generate additional revenue for government while providing employment for border communities.
The don, who is also President, Nigerian Association of Agricultural Economists, said the reason behind the closure was not critically thought out by the past administration.
According to him, the closure brought hardship to border communities which livelihood and sustenance depend on trading across borders on daily basis.
The National Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Chief Superintendent of Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, said some borders were still closed.
Former president, Muhammadu Buhari, had in August 2019, shut all land borders to encourage local production of rice and to check smuggling.
