A former member of 8th Senate, represented Kaduna central senatorial district in the red chamber, Senator Shehu Sani had said the closure of the borders rather worsened the economic situation of Nigeria and inflicted hardship on her citizens.
Reacting on Tuesday to the recent reopening of borders by the federal government, Sani asked Buhari government to apologise to Nigerians for closing the country's borders.
Federal Government had in August 2019 closed its land borders to end illegal importation of drugs, small arms, and agricultural products into Nigeria from neighbouring West African nations.
But the former lawmaker noted that since the closure of borders did not achieve the objectives they were closed for, the government owed it as a duty to apologise after reopening the borders
The government had last Friday approved the reopening of four additional land borders shut in August 2019 as part of efforts to curtail smuggling and boost local production of rice.
A circular released by the Nigeria Customs Service, signed by Deputy Comptroller-General E. I. Edorhe, on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, listed the borders as Idiroko border post in Ogun State, Jibiya border post in Katsina State, Kamba border post in Kebbi State and Ikom border post in Cross River State.
Senator Sani said Nigerians had not not achieved anything by closing the borders, but only worsened economy and inflicted hardship on them, adding that closure of borders did not stop heardsmen and bandits from coming into the country with dangerous weapons for their dastard acts.
He said, “If it is about rice, are we now producing enough? No, we are not doing that. The cost of a bag of rice has even become more expensive because of the closure of the borders,” the Senator submitted.
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