A former member of the National Assembly, who represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, has said the closure of Nigeria’s land borders did not yield any result.
Sani said the closure of the borders rather worsened the economic situation of the country and inflicted hardship on Nigerians.
The ex-senator spoke on Wednesday on a PUNCH Online interview programme, The Roundtable.
His remarks came shortly after the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, announced after a Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja that four of the nation’s land borders have been reopened.
Nigeria had in August 2019 closed its land borders to curtail illegal importation of drugs, small arms and agricultural products into country from neighbouring West African nations.
But Sani said the 16-month border closure did not help boost the country’s agricultural output or rice production as claimed by the Federal Government.
“We have not achieved anything by closing the borders but have only inflicted hardship on the border communities and Nigerians.
“The closure of borders has not stopped herdsmen and bandits from moving in with weapons.
“If it is about rice, are we now producing enough? No, we are not doing that. The cost of a bag of rice has even become more expensive because of the closure of the borders,” he said.
The former lawmaker added that the closure of the borders is not the solution to smuggling but the use of technology and the empowerment of the immigration, the military, the police, and other security personnel manning the borders.
Sani, who also noted that Nigeria’s terrorism has spread to its West African neighbours including Benin Republic, Chad, Cameroon, and others, stressed that decisive action must be taken by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to end insecurity in the country.
PUNCH
