Farmers in the country on Wednesday kicked against the move by the federal government to reopen land borders.
The farmers told Daily Trust that doing so at the time prices of food items were on the increase locally may be dangerous.
They said neighbouring countries that relied on Nigeria for food and other necessities would troop into the country and by implication, the prices of such commodities would go higher.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, said yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari will soon receive a report of a presidential committee constituted to advise him on the reopening of the nation’s borders.
This disclosure raised hopes that the president might soon reopen the land borders that were shut since August 2019.
Nigeria, the largest economy and the most prosperous of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) closed its land borders on account of the proliferation of illegal importation of drugs, small arms and agricultural products from neighbouring West African countries and beyond.
With an area of 923,768, Nigeria is bordered by Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; and all of them rely heavily on Nigeria. Millions of Nigerians also use the proximity of the land borders for their businesses and other endeavours and the decision to close the borders had crippled their dealings.
The closure of the borders had also caused serious setbacks for all the countries concerned, including Ghana.
Hajiya Ahmed, while reacting to a question on when Nigerian borders would be reopened at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari, said the committee had assessed the gains of the closure.
Members of the committee are ministers of finance, budget and national planning, interior and foreign affairs.
She said once members of the committee sign the report, it would be submitted to the president.
The finance minister was, however, silent on the exact day they would submit the document and the day the borders would be reopened.
“Mr President has set up a committee that I chair, alongside the minister of foreign affairs and other ministers, including interior, customs, immigration, the security services, to review and advise him on the issue of the border closure.
“The committee has just completed its work and we will be submitting our report, I have signed my copy, I gave everybody to sign between today and tomorrow so that we submit the report to Mr President,” the minister said while fielding questions from State House reporters.
Hajiya Zainab had at a roundtable discussion at the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #26), also gave the assurance that the borders would be reopened soon.
She had told the audience at the NES #26 that: “We have made an assessment. The president set up a committee and we have made an assessment and all the members of the committee agreed and are recommending to the president that it is time to reopen the borders.
“The objective has been met in the sense that we have been able, over these couple of months, to work together with our partners in a tripartite committee and do a joint border patrol together and reinforce the sanctity of the commitments that we made to each other. So, each side has learnt its lessons. Nigeria has been affecting our partners in terms of businesses that we have in Nigeria as well. So, we will be expecting that the borders will be reopened very soon. The date will be decided by Mr President,” he said.
Closure remains best option
The National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Arch. Kabiru Ibrahim, told Daily Trust on the phone yesterday that most foods produced in Nigeria usually find their way to the neighbouring countries, adding that reopening of borders would make such movements much easier.
“Farmers are harvesting their produce but yet prices of food items are on the rise for some other factors; so if you open the borders and allow free movement of the products to our neighbouring countries, what do you think will happen, it will be disastrous,” he said.
The farmers’ leader also reminded the proponents of the reopening about the new wave of COVID-19 infections, adding that taking such action at the moment would further worsen the situation, as reported by Daily Trust.
