Reopening Borders And Reintroducing Fuel Subsidy Will Unleash Smuggling – Omokri Warns Atiku

Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, Reno Omokri, has warned that reopening Nigeria’s borders and reintroducing fuel subsidy could lead to serious consequences.

Naija News reports that Omokri gave the warning in a statement on Friday, reacting to Atiku’s latest submissions on what he plans to do if elected into power in 2027.

Atiku said he would reopen the country’s land borders and reintroduce fuel subsidy if elected president in the 2027 general election.

The former vice president had said the measures would revive trans-border trade, which he argued had been disrupted by prolonged restrictions on some of Nigeria’s borders with neighbouring countries.

However, Omokri warned that such a move could encourage large-scale smuggling and worsen the country’s security and economic challenges.

He said, “If you reintroduce fuel subsidy and simultaneously reopen all of Nigeria’s land borders, what you are doing is unleashing the greatest ever smuggling of petroleum products from Nigeria to neighbouring nations.”

Omokri recalled that during the period when Nigeria operated fuel subsidy alongside relatively open borders, significant volumes of subsidised petroleum products were allegedly smuggled out of the country.

He claimed that about 25 million litres of the 66.1 million litres supplied daily under the subsidised regime were smuggled out, while rice and poultry products imported through neighbouring countries were also smuggled into Nigeria.

He argued that the development contributed to pressure on Nigeria’s foreign reserves, weakened the naira and undermined local rice and poultry production.

He warned that unrestricted reopening of the country’s land borders could also create security vulnerabilities.

“Even more than that, when you open Nigeria’s borders without restrictions, as has been proposed, you give terrorists and bandits a leeway to flood Nigeria with light weapons and ammunition, because the borders will be overwhelmed and our customs and immigration officials will be overstretched,” he said.

Omokri noted that President Bola Tinubu had previously directed the reopening of some land borders with the Niger Republic, including specific routes, and that the Tsamiya border in Kebbi State was subsequently reopened.

“Once we have the personnel needed to secure our porous borders, we will eventually reopen all of them.

“But to reopen all borders without first securing them is to put Nigeria’s security and her economy at risk and portends great danger for Nigerian citizens,” he said.