The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday, said the federal government decided to close Nigeria’s land border to get the attention of neighbouring countries to take border policing more seriously.
Osinbajo, who spoke at a town hall meeting in Benin City, Edo State, urged Nigerians to endure the pains accompanied with the closure of Nigeria’s borders.
The Vice President said part of the reasons for the border closure was to get the attention of neighbouring countries to take border policing more seriously.
He explained that smuggling discouraged local production and does not allow Nigeria farmers have access to markets.
According to Osinbajo: “Part of the reasons for shutting the border is the smuggling that has been going on. If we continue to allow the Chinese and others to continue to bring in all those things, we will kill farming completely and most of our people will not be employed.
“There may be some pains in other to gain. The countries of the world that are prosperous didn’t allow anybody to bring in anything to their country. They made sure they grew what they eat. I can assure you that very soon you will see a great deal of progress, you will see a more of our own commodity coming into the market.
“If we allow our own people to grow these things, our people will prosper. The only way our people can prosper is if we let them use the opportunity that they have such as farming, fishing and others.
“We are going to make sure that commodity is cheaper. We must bear in mind that the reason today some commodity is more expensive is because we stopped smuggling. We have to encourage our local farmers so that our local farmers can prosper.”