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Former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Atiku made the promise in a video, arguing that the closure of Nigeria’s borders had severely affected legitimate trans-border trade and contributed to business failures and unemployment among young Nigerians.
According to him, northern states share borders with countries including Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic, making cross-border commerce an important part of the region’s economy.
He said many young Nigerians who previously operated businesses across the borders had suffered significant losses following the restrictions on movement and trade.
“All our young men who are doing trading in between these countries, they carry goods here across, they do this, and all the what we call trans-border trade is a legitimate business,” Atiku said.
He argued that the disruption of such businesses had left some entrepreneurs bankrupt and unemployed, creating conditions that could worsen insecurity.
“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,” he said.
“How can there be no insecurity? So, I said, I’m going to reopen the borders,” Atiku added.
The ADC candidate also spoke about the need to improve Nigeria’s ports and transportation infrastructure to facilitate the movement of goods across the country.
He said he had previously engaged shipping and ship-development companies in Europe on ways to develop ports in southern and southeastern Nigeria and create a better balance in the movement and importation of goods.
Atiku said improved port infrastructure would particularly benefit businesses operating in northern Nigeria by reducing the time and cost required to transport imported goods.
He cited his own manufacturing business in Adamawa State as an example, saying transporting containers from Lagos to Yola currently takes significantly longer than it should because of poor infrastructure and the distance involved.
“I have a factory that I produce, and it is in Adamawa, and I’m on the eastern, northeastern side of the country,” he said.
According to him, moving a container from ports in Calabar, Uyo or Port Harcourt to Yola could take about 24 hours under better conditions, whereas transporting one from Lagos currently takes much longer.
“But right now, it takes me no less than two months to take my container from Lagos, because you have to cross over from southwest, you go to northeast, and then there is even no road,” Atiku said.
He maintained that reopening the borders and improving transport infrastructure would support traders, manufacturers and other businesses while strengthening economic activity across the country.
