Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if he wins the presidency.
Atiku made the promise while speaking to supporters in a video circulating online and shared on Friday by ADC chieftain Dele Momodu.
According to him, the closure of Nigeria’s borders with neighbouring countries had disrupted transborder commerce and worsened unemployment, particularly among young people.
“The Northern states is 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,” Atiku said.
He argued that the border restrictions had pushed many young entrepreneurs out of business, including those who had invested millions of naira 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,” he added.
Beyond the land borders, Atiku said he had also considered measures to improve the transportation of imported goods through ports in southern Nigeria.
“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.
The ADC candidate said upgrading ports in the South would help reduce both the cost and duration of transporting goods to the North-East.
He referred to the transportation of containers from Lagos to Yola in Adamawa State, where he said he had a factory, as an example of the difficulties businesses face.
“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.
He maintained that his proposal reflected concerns over the movement of goods across the country while also promoting the development of ports in southern Nigeria.
Nigeria’s land borders were shut in August 2019 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Federal Government at the time said the policy was aimed at tackling large-scale smuggling of rice, poultry products, petroleum products and other commodities, as well as the movement of weapons and drugs, while encouraging domestic agricultural production.
In December 2020, Buhari approved the reopening of four border posts: Seme Border in Lagos State, Illela Border in Sokoto State, Maigatari Border in Jigawa State and Mfun Border in Cross River State.
Under President Bola Tinubu, the Tsamiya land border with the Benin Republic in Kebbi State and the Kamba corridor linking Nigeria with Niger Republic were reopened in February 2026.
The Nigeria Customs Service said at the time that the reopening would be supported by measures designed to check smuggling and other forms of illegal activity.
Despite the gradual reopening of some strategic border posts, several land borders have continued to operate under restrictions or heightened controls.
