Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027.
Atiku made the pledge while addressing supporters in a video shared on Instagram on Friday by ADC chieftain, Dele Momodu.
He said the closure and restrictions at Nigeria’s land borders had adversely affected transborder trade, forced businesses to shut down and contributed to rising unemployment among young Nigerians.
According to Atiku, the northern states share borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic, making cross-border trade an important source of livelihood for many residents.
“The Northern states is bordering Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic.
“And you close all those borders. All our young men who are doing trading between these countries, they carry goods across, they do this and that, all what we call transborder trade is a legitimate business,” Atiku said.
He said many young entrepreneurs who previously operated businesses with millions of naira in capital had been pushed out of business following the border closures.
“All the upcoming young men and women who used to have a capital of 10 million, 20 million, and they were employing two, three other people, and then all of them went bankrupt and unemployed. How can there be security?” he asked.
“So I said I am going to reopen the borders and I will,” he added.
The ADC candidate also said his administration would seek to improve the country’s port infrastructure, particularly in the South and South-East, to facilitate the movement of goods to other parts of the country.
Atiku said he had previously engaged shippers and ship development companies in Europe on ways to develop ports in the South and South-East.
“During the last campaign, I went across to Europe to discuss with shippers and ship development companies how we can together develop South and South-Eastern ports so that there is balance as far as importation of goods and transportation of goods are concerned,” he said.
He said improved port infrastructure in the region would reduce the time and cost of transporting goods to the North-East.
Atiku cited the transportation of containers from Lagos to Yola, Adamawa State, where he said he owns a factory, as an example.
“So when, if I drop my container in Calabar or in Uyo or in Port Harcourt, it will just take me 24 hours to take the container to Yola.
“But right now, it takes me not less than two months to take my container from Lagos because you have to cross over from South-West, you go to North-East, and then there is even no road,” Atiku said.
He said reopening the borders and developing alternative ports would address some of the challenges facing traders and businesses while improving the movement of goods across the country.
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