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President Buhari reopens Nigeria's land borders

Jude Egbas

December 16, 2020 5:09 PM

The president has ordered that the nation's four land borders be immediately reopened.

President Buhari (Presidency)

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered for the immediate reopening of Nigeria's four land borders.

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The borders are Seme in the southwest, Illela in Sokoto State, Maigatari in the northwest, and Mfun in the south-south.

The borders have been shut since August 2019, in a bid to curb smuggling in weapons and drugs and stimulate local production of food.

Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, conveyed the president's directives as the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which held virtually on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, wound to a close.

President Muhammadu Buhari joins the virtual Federal Executive Council meeting from his Daura country home in Katsina on Dec 16, 2020. [Twitter/@BashirAhmaad] Pulse Nigeria

The president also directed that other land borders should be reopened by December 31, 2020.

Last week, the president had promised that the borders would be reopened sooner.

“Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours, we are looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible,” he had said.