By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo has listed the gains of border closure even as the President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate reopening of Nigeria’s four most popular land borders.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday in Abuja Adebayo argued that there were many advantages of the border closure.
Said he, “we have many advantages to the border closure, it has given the security agencies an opportunity to access the problems at the borders particularly with regard to smuggling.
“As you are all aware before the border closures, a lot of petroleum products were being smuggled out from the borders to West African countries and the border closures has created a situation that has tactically stopped that, they have been able to calculate the amount of petroleum products being smuggled out by calculating the amount that is being lifted now compared to what was being lifted before.
“The issue of smuggling of rice to the country has reduced drastically and we are hoping that our agencies will be able to sustain that so also is the issue of poultry smuggling.
“Also very important is the issue of importation of small arms and weapons into the country, that also has stopped. We are hoping and we are sure that this time around, our security agencies will be able to see that that doesn’t reoccur again.
“These are the issues that caused the closure of the borders in the first place and we have been able to put a stop to them”, the Minister concluded.
