Buhari insists on border closure

President Muhammadu Buhari in London insisted on the closure of Nigerian borders. The President at a meeting with a select group of the Nigerian Community in the United Kingdom maintained that the closure of Nigeria’s borders is not meant to punish the neighbouring countries but to strengthen the country’s security and economy.

President Buhari said that the period of the border closure will be used for stock-taking on threats to the nation’s security and economy.

Nigerian-Benin Border

He also noted that Nigerian farmers have been celebrating the closure which has drastically reduced smuggling of agricultural produce as well as arms and ammunition.

President Buhari attributed the country’s improved profile in food security to what he described as the “very good last three rainy seasons;” the federal government’s reduction in the price of fertilizers by 50 per cent and the presidential directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria not to give foreign exchange for food imports thereby saving the nations billions of naira.