Atiku promises border reopening, says closures killed young businesses

Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has promised to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027.

According to him, the continued restrictions at the borders had undermined legitimate transborder commerce, driven many young entrepreneurs out of business and worsened unemployment.

He made the commitment while speaking to supporters in a video shared online by ADC chieftain, Dele Momodu, on Friday.

According to Atiku, communities in northern Nigeria have traditionally relied on cross-border commerce with neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic.

“The Northern states are 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,” he said.

He argued that the border restrictions had affected young Nigerians who had built businesses with substantial capital and employed other people.

“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,” Atiku added.

The former vice president also advocated improved port infrastructure in southern Nigeria, saying it would create a more efficient route for moving imported goods to the northern part of the country.

He said he had previously engaged shipping and ship development companies in Europe over plans to develop ports in the South-East and South-South.

“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.

Atiku said better-developed ports in the southern region would significantly cut the time and expense involved in transporting goods to the North-East.

Using Yola in Adamawa State as an example, he said moving containers from Lagos was unnecessarily difficult and time-consuming.

“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.