FG Speak On Closing Land Borders Again

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said that the government may again shut the nation’s borders should there be any trouble.

According to the presidential aide, the Federal Government is studying activities at four of the nation’s land borders which were reopened last week after a few months they were shut as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

Naija News understands that Shehu disclosed this on Tuesday, December 22 while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.

It could be recalled that the Nigerian land borders were reopened on December 16, 2020. The four borders; the Seme Border in Lagos State, Illela Border in Sokoto State, Maigatari Border in Jigawa State, and Mfun Border in Cross River State were all closed down in August 2019 in a bid to avoid illegal importation of drugs, small arms and agricultural products into the country from neighbouring West African nations, Naija News reports.

A top Presidency source had on Sunday, disclosed that the harsh economic situation in Nigeria caused by the outbreak of Coronavirus and the negative impact of the border closure on the private sector made President Muhammadu Buhari order the re-opening of land borders.

The source which spoke with Vanguard on the condition of anonymity noted that the President directed the opening of the four borders having realised that the closure affected an ordinary Nigerian.