Minister challenges Atiku, says Nigeria’s land borders not closed

Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027, saying the country’s borders are currently open.

Mr Tunji-Ojo, in a Facebook post on Saturday, said it was inaccurate to describe Nigeria’s land borders as closed, as several major crossings had been reopened under both previous and current administrations.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), proposed reopening Nigeria’s land borders, which are still shut, and introducing policies to ease the importation and movement of goods if elected president in 2027.

Atiku, who has sought to become Nigeria’s president in six election cycles since 1993, said the closure of the land borders had forced many businesses to shut down and contributed to the worsening insecurity in the country.

The presidential candidate said transborder trade is a legitimate business and questioned the government’s decision to shut the country’s borders.

Atiku listed Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the Benin Republic among countries whose land borders with Nigeria had been affected by prolonged closures, and promised to reopen them if elected.

Opened borders

Responding to the proposal made by the former vice president, the minister noted that Nigerian borders are not closed and cannot be reopened.

“As the Minister of Interior who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service, being an agency of government in charge of border and migration management, it is expedient to state that Nigerian borders are not closed and so cannot be reopened,” he stated.

Mr Tunji-Ojo said the Nigerian government reopened Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum on 16 December 2020, with other crossings subsequently reopened.

He said Idiroko and Ikom were reopened to goods and services on 20 April 2022, while Kamba and Tsamiya in Kebbi State were reopened in February 2026 under the current administration, providing links to the Niger Republic and the Benin Republic, respectively.

The minister also disputed the suggestion that the closures of Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon were linked to the 2019 trade policy.

According to him, the closures of the Banki and Amchidé crossings were driven by security concerns arising from Boko Haram activities and dated back to 2014.

He said the crossings were reopened in 2019, while Fotokol and Gambaru followed in 2021 after joint military and stabilisation efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

The minister admitted that some northern crossings remain subject to tighter controls due to insecurity, saying these restrictions were deliberate security measures rather than evidence that the borders remained closed.

He warned that Mr Abubakar should not misinterpret the border policies, noting that trade regulation and counter-insurgency measures are not the same.

“Folding this separate, security-driven history into one continuous 2019 shutdown misrepresents two distinct issues, trade regulation and counter-insurgency, as a single failure.

“Where banditry or residual insurgent activity persists, tighter control is a deliberate security judgement, not neglect, since reopening ahead of the security situation would expose traders and border communities to greater risk,” the minister explained.

Mr Tunji-Ojo said modern border management could not be reduced to a choice between completely shutting borders and allowing unrestricted movement.

“Modern border management is not a choice between total closure and unrestricted movement; it requires security, documentation, customs compliance and controlled trade facilitation together,” he said.

He urged Mr Abubakar to explain how his proposed border policy would differ from the current approach, noting that political competition should not become a competition to rewrite recent history.

“If he has a new border proposal, he should set it out and explain how it differs from the current approach, rather than treating separate trade, security and infrastructure issues as the same,” the minister said.

Nigeria’s land border closure

Nigeria’s major land-border closure was ordered under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2019 and was initially described by the government as a partial closure.

The Buhari administration said the measure was primarily aimed at curbing smuggling, particularly the illegal importation of rice and other agricultural products. It also cited the smuggling of small arms, ammunition and hard drugs as security concerns.

Since then, the Nigerian government has reopened land borders across the country on many occasions, including Seme, Illela, Maigatari, and Mfum in 2020, and Idiroko in Ogun State, Jibia in Katsina State, Kamba in Kebbi State, and Ikom in Cross River State in 2022.

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Meanwhile, the reopening of the border posts did not amount to the removal of all import restrictions. The government retained bans on certain products and continued to deploy the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies to combat smuggling as of 2022.

However, in August 2023, under separate circumstances different from the 2019 trade-related closure, Nigeria closed its land and air borders with the Republic of Niger as part of sanctions imposed on the country following the military coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

At the time, President Tinubu was chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government.

Subsequently, in February 2024, after ECOWAS leaders agreed to lift sanctions on Niger, Mr Tinubu directed the immediate reopening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with the country.

The directive also lifted other economic and financial sanctions imposed on Niger.