Senators differ on border closure, seek talks with neighbour

Most senators who contributed to the debate on a motion which reviewed the continued closure of the Nigerian borders on Wednesday condemned the Federal Government’s action.

They insisted that the policy was counter-productive because it was causing great discomfort to Nigerians doing legitimate businesses across the border.

The motion titled, ‘The impact of border closure on the Nigerian economy’, sponsored by Senator Adamu Aliero, was aimed at commending the Federal Government for the action.

However, majority of the lawmakers who contributed to the debate, thought otherwise.

A former Minister of Interior, Senator Abba Moro, said the policy had greatly increased the pains and sufferings of Nigerians.

Moro said there were 87 official borders in Nigeria but that there were about 1,900 unofficial borders around the country.

He said it was better for the country to establish firms that would be producing products being smuggled into Nigeria.

Senator Gabriel Suswan wondered why Nigeria signed a trade agreement with other neighbouring countries and decided to close its borders

The Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the implications of the border closure was an indication that the Nigerian Customs Service,  Nigeria Immigration , the National Boundary Commission, and the various military and security agencies had failed in their responsibilities.

Senator Sani Musa, in his contribution, noted that the border closure was not achieving the desired results.

He said most people who were smuggling banned products, especially rice, were using commercial motorcycles to bring the products through illegal borders.

Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, however, justified the closure and said it would enable Nigerians to formulate good policies.

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, also said the closure was the best decision because it’s borders on security and economy.

He said land border closure would enable Nigeria to review its security architectures and act accordingly.

Aliero had in his lead debate noted that the Nigerian economy was experiencing a lot of positive derivatives that was impacting on the country since the closure.

He said, “Fuel smuggling has significantly reduced, thereby saving the country the scarce foreign exchange spent by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to import fuel into Nigeria.

He also noted that the smuggling of textile and vegetable oil imported from Malaysia through the land borders which had negatively affected local production had been grounded to a halt.

The Senate via voice votes after the debate, however resolved to commend Buhari on the temporary shutdown of all the land borders to rectify the deteriorating effect on the country.

It urged the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to increase diplomatic outreach to the government of the Republic of Benin, Cameroun, Niger and Chad.

They asked the Federal Government to take urgent measures to stop their countries from being used as smuggling base to perpetuate the illegal importation of unwanted goods into Nigeria.