Nigeria’s Land Borders Already Open: Presidency Replies Atiku

The Presidency has rejected former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s promise to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027, saying most of the borders are already open.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, made the promise while addressing supporters in a video shared by ADC chieftain Dele Momodu.

He said restrictions on the borders had hurt cross-border trade and left many young Nigerians without jobs.

“The Northern states [are] bordering Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic.

"And you close all those borders,” Atiku said.

He added that “all our young men who are doing trading between these countries” were involved in legitimate businesses that had been affected by the restrictions.

“All the upcoming young men and women who used to have a capital of 10 million, 20 million, and they were employing two, three other people, and then all of them went bankrupt and unemployed,” he said.

Atiku then declared, “So I said I am going to reopen the borders and I will.”

However, the Presidency said the claim that Nigeria’s borders are closed is misleading.

In a statement titled “Atiku and the Borders: Nigerians Deserve Facts, Not Campaign Slogans,” Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said most land borders were reopened on 14th March 2024.

“The facts are straightforward: Nigeria’s land borders are already open,” Dare said.

“It is therefore difficult to understand which borders the former Vice President intends to open when the borders are already open.”

Dare said President Tinubu also opened the Kamba border in Kebbi State on 14th February 2026.

He challenged Atiku to explain which border controls he planned to remove and how his government would prevent terrorism, smuggling, arms trafficking and human trafficking.

“An open border is not an uncontrolled border,” Dare said, adding that effective border management requires immigration and customs controls, intelligence-sharing, surveillance, technology and security operations.

The Presidency said Nigeria’s borders must remain open to “legitimate commerce and movement, but secure against terrorists and criminals.”