Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has promised to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president.
Atiku made the pledge while addressing supporters in a video circulating online and shared by ADC chieftain, Dele Momodu, on Friday.
He said the closure of the borders had negatively affected transborder trade and contributed to unemployment among young Nigerians.
“The Northern states are bordering Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic.
“And you close all those borders. All our young men who are doing trading between these countries, they carry goods across; all what we call transborder trade is a legitimate business,” Atiku said.
He said many young people who previously operated businesses with millions of naira had been forced out of business following the border closures.
“All the upcoming young men and women who used to have a capital of N10 million, N20 million, and they were employing two, three other people, and then all of them went bankrupt and unemployed.
“How can there be security?” he asked.
“So I said I am going to reopen the borders, and I will,” Atiku added.
The ADC candidate also said he had explored ways to improve the movement of goods through ports in the southern part of the country.
He said developing ports in the South and South-East would help create a balance in the importation and transportation of goods and reduce the time and cost of moving goods to the North-East.
“At the last campaign, I went across to Europe to discuss with shippers and ship development companies how we can together develop South and South-Eastern ports,” he said.
Atiku cited the movement of containers from Lagos to Yola, Adamawa, where he said he had a factory, as an example of the challenges facing businesses.
He said moving a container from Lagos to Yola could take up to two months, while transporting it from Calabar, Uyo or Port Harcourt to Yola could take about 24 hours if the necessary infrastructure was available.
Nigeria’s land borders were closed in August 2019 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, with the Federal Government citing efforts to curb smuggling and boost local production.
The government later reopened some border posts, including Seme in Lagos, Illela in Sokoto, Maigatari in Jigawa and Mfun in Cross River.
In February 2026, the Tinubu administration also reopened the Tsamiya land border with Benin Republic in Kebbi and the Kamba corridor linking Nigeria with Niger Republic.
The Nigeria Customs Service said the reopening would be accompanied by measures to prevent smuggling and other illegal activities.
