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President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday while in London on a sideline held a bilateral meeting with his Ghanian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, where he throws more light on why Nigeria had to partially close its border. The President special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina revealed this in a statement in Abuja, saying the meeting was held in a side-line of the UK-Africa investment summit 2020.


Buhari disclosed that the purpose of the partial closer of border was to regulate the importation of food stuffs into Nigeria most especially, the foreign rice, as they were being smuggled into Nigeria without recourse to importation protocols as well as arms and ammunition, and hard drugs were proliferating into the country.


Mr President said revealed being the Nigerian father he could not just fold his arms and watch as youth are being destroyed by hard drugs, and compromised security through the infiltration of arms and ammunition.


The statement reads; “When most of the vehicles carrying rice and other food products through our land borders are intercepted, you find cheap hard drugs, and small arms, under the food products. This has terrible consequences for any country,”


He added, is sad the partial closure is impacting negatively on the economy of our neighbouring countries, but Nigerian youth lives cannot be gambled with as they are the leaders of the tomorrow, their lives matters.


According to him, the Sahel region is flooded with small arms, and this is threatening our security fabric of our corporate existence as neighbours like the Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, saying this has negative consequence.


When asked by his Ghanian counterpart on a possible time-frame for the re-opening of the border, the Nigerian leader said not until the final report from the committee set up on the matter is completed.


He assured him, that they will sort it out in the end. He noted that that with the closure on our borders, Nigerian farmers are happy going to the bank because they now have a market, but drug and light weapons have continue to be a nightmare.


He affirmed his Ghanian counterpart that once the report is through, they will sit and sort things out, he said.


President Akufo-Addo, while showing understanding of the need for Nigeria to protect her citizens, pleaded for “an expedited process, because the Nigerian market is significant for certain categories of business people in Ghana.”

 

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