The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s claim that he would reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027, insisting that the country’s borders are already open. Tunji-Ojo, in a statement on Saturday, said Atiku’s proposal was based on an inaccurate portrayal of……
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s claim that he would reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027, insisting that the country’s borders are already open.
Tunji-Ojo, in a statement on Saturday, said Atiku’s proposal was based on an inaccurate portrayal of the status and history of Nigeria’s land borders.
The minister, who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service, said it was necessary to clarify that “Nigerian borders are not closed and so cannot be reopened.”
According to him, several major land borders previously affected by restrictions had been reopened under successive administrations.
He said Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum borders were reopened on December 16, 2020, while Idiroko and Ikom were reopened for goods and services on April 20, 2022.
Tunji-Ojo added that Kamba and Tsamiya borders in Kebbi State were reopened under the current administration in February 2026, providing links to Niger Republic and Benin Republic respectively.
The minister also rejected Atiku’s reference to Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin as though they had all been subjected to the same prolonged closure.
He explained that the closure of the Banki and Amchidé crossings along the Cameroon border was initially driven by security concerns arising from Boko Haram insurgency in 2014.
According to him, the crossings were reopened in 2019, while Fotokol and Gambaru followed in 2021 after joint military and stabilisation efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Tunji-Ojo said conflating the different circumstances amounted to presenting separate trade and security policies as one issue.
“Folding this separate, security driven history into one continuous 2019 shutdown misrepresents two distinct issues, trade regulation and counter insurgency, as a single failure,” he said.
The minister, however, acknowledged that some northern border crossings remain subject to restrictions due to prevailing security concerns.
He said such measures were deliberate security decisions intended to protect traders and border communities from banditry and residual insurgent activities.
“Not every northern crossing is fully unrestricted today. Where banditry or residual insurgent activity persists, tighter control is a deliberate security judgement, not neglect,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He stressed that effective border management involved more than simply opening or closing borders, noting that security, documentation, customs compliance and controlled trade facilitation were all necessary.
“Modern border management is not a choice between total closure and unrestricted movement; it requires security, documentation, customs compliance and controlled trade facilitation together,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo urged Atiku to provide details of any new border policy he intends to introduce rather than portraying the current system as a continuation of past closures.
“Political competition should not become a competition to rewrite recent history,” the minister said.
“If he has a new border proposal, he should set it out and explain how it differs from the current approach, rather than treating separate trade, security and infrastructure issues as one and the same,” he added.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had earlier said he will reopen Nigeria’s land borders and develop southern ports to boost trade if elected president in 2027.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), spoke on Wednesday when a political support group visited him in Abuja.
The former vice-president’s pledge comes months after President Bola Tinubu’s administration reopened the Kamba and Tsamiya border routes with the Niger Republic.
