Why Did Nigeria Closed Its Borders?

By Abubakar Garba Mukhtar

Following the directives of the Nigerian government of closing the nation’s borders has is causing serious injuries to the economies of the nation’s neighbouring countries as the survival of their economy most depend on Nigeria because Nigeria produces a large proportion of goods and services for the West African subcontinent.

The Nigerian government on August 2019 agreed to close its borders in order to reduce smuggling of rice, illicit drugs, small and light weapons and protect local farmers to safeguard national security.

However, the current approach towards border closure is not mostly achieving the aim as local rice produced in the country is expensive and smuggling of illicit drugs and others are still taking place

Economically, no country can live in isolation to sufficiently sustains itself  without trading with other countries, every country must relate with other countries as far as economic interdependence is concern.

Economic interdependence is a consequence of specialization. Countries must belong to a trading network to obtain the products they cannot produce efficiently for themselves and it forces nations to emphasize mutually beneficial activities to ensure collective preservation and progress.

And one of the main benefits of the economic interdependence is that countries can participate in international trade and acquire the goods and services they lack in which Nigeria lack such potentials in acquiring the goods, the chemicals and the input materials used in local or domestic production.

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Security reason was also part of the issue why Nigeria unexpectedly close it borders because as the report shows most of the influx of the weapons that are being used by  Boko Haram terrorists, bandits etc are coming through land borders hence the government was left with no option other than to close borders.

Although,  according to some experts this has contributed little impact to the national security amid the worsening insecurity in some part of the Northeastern and western  States of the federation.

The reaction of the President Muhammadu Buhari last Friday, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja,  when he received the President of Burkina Faso,  Roch Marc Christian Kabore explained that Nigeria’s decision to partially close the border was purely to safeguard national security.

The President of Burkina Faso is the chairman of the ECOWAS Committee saddled with the responsibility to resolve the issue of the border closure.  But what President Muhammad Buhari fails to understand is that the closure has not made Nigeria free from the illegal importation of rice, weapons, small arms, light weapons and also illicit drugs.

Where are the Customs officers, the Nigerian immigration officers and the other relevant security agencies? Why can’t Nigeria deploy more security forces to borders to safeguard national security?  Its not fair for Nigeria to hide under the insecurity issue to continue torture Nigerians through the closure of land borders and restrictions of the importation of goods which we are using and which we can no longer produce in standard quantity, quality and at market value.

So also, the call for more patience over border closure by President Muhammad Buhari can not work in this way because he did not consider the regional and continental matters while taking the decision of closing  borders.

The directives have cast a shadow over the aims and objectives of the ECOWAS trade agreement which stipulates the removal of trade barriers and harmonization of trade policies for the establishment of a free trade area, a customs union, and common market in West Africa.

Transborder between two or more countries is mutually beneficial. Nigerians import input materials for production, semi goods or finished goods from neighbouring countries especially from Benin, Niger, Chad republic.

Also, manufactured goods are exported from Nigeria to those countries. Therefore, this exchange trade serves as an important part of the economy. But how do we improve the economy through trade exchange when borders are closed? How do we encourage local producers to produce more for export while there is a barrier of trade among the exchanging trading partners?  These and many more should be considered by President Buhari before on the border closure.

As the Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met to find realistic solutions to the ongoing border closure by Nigeria, Nigeria government has to investigate the actual factors responsible for the illegal trans-border trade which led to the illegal importation of rice, weapons and provide a lasting solution.

The President ought to improve border security with the nation’s neighbouring countries as the ongoing  border closure is affecting the countries and their economies which is against the law of the free trade agreement of the ECOWAS Member States.

Also, the Nigeria Customs Service should be strengthened in line with the global best practice along with the modern use of technology for border control. This will effectively impact on the illegal and unwanted goods coming into Nigeria.

And, to encourage local farmers and boost local production in order to achieve food security government should provide incentives through trade deals and subsidies or improve productivity to give local producers the capacity to compete with foreign counterparts.

Had it been the service of the Nigeria customs is very efficient there would be no reason for the extension of the closure of the nation’s borders in order to control smuggling.

Abubakar Garba Mukhtar, an economist can be reached via agarbamukhtar@gmail.companies