Tobias Sylvester
The Federal Government said it had recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari to reopen Nigerian land borders which were closed since August last year.
Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed this during a roundtable discussion at the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #26) on Tuesday.
Mrs Ahmed said that a committee set up by President Buhari had done an assessment of the gains of the closure and had recommended to the president to reopen the borders.
Although, the minister did not give the date of the reopening, she was, however, optimistic that the president would act on the recommendation soon and reopen the borders very soon.
“We have made an assessment. The president set up a committee and we have made an assessment and all the members of the committee agreed and are recommending to the president that it is time to reopen the borders.
“The objective has been met in the sense that we have been able, over these couple of months, to work together with our partners in a tripartite committee and do a joint border patrol together and reinforced the sanctity of the commitments that we made to each other. So, each side has learnt its lesions.
“Nigeria has been affecting our partners in terms of businesses that we have in Nigeria as well. So, we will be expecting that the borders will be reopened very soon. The date will be decided by Mr President” she said.
KanyiDaily recalls that President Buhari had in August 2019 ordered the closure of the borders to check the menace of smuggling goods and arms and ammunition into the country and protect local businesses.
Countries like Benin Republic and Ghana had appealed to President Buhari to reconsider the closure, but Buhari maintained that the borders would remain closed until the final report of the committee set up on the matter was considered.
A few months ago, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo assured Nigerians that the Federal Government is working towards reopening all the various land borders in the country.
