30/08/2026
ATIKU’S BORDER CLAIM: WERE THE BORDERS CLOSED?
Attention has been drawn to comments by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on his plans to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected President in 2027.
As the Minister of Interior who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service being an agency of government in charge of border and migration management, it is expedient to state that Nigerian borders are not closed and so cannot be reopened.
On 16 December 2020, the previous government reopened Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum, with the rest to follow. Idiroko and Ikom were reopened for goods and services on 20 April 2022, and Kamba and Tsamiya, in Kebbi State, followed under the current administration in February 2026, linking to Niger Republic and Benin Republic respectively.
The former Vice President named Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic specifically. The prolonged closures on the Cameroon border, at Banki and Amchidé, did not arise from the 2019 trade policy at all. They date to 2014, when Boko Haram forced their closure for security reasons, and reopened in 2019, with Fotokol and Gambaru following in 2021, after joint military and stabilisation efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Folding this separate, security driven history into one continuous 2019 shutdown misrepresents two distinct issues, trade regulation and counter insurgency, as a single failure.
Not every northern crossing is fully unrestricted today. Where banditry or residual insurgent activity persists, tighter control is a deliberate security judgement, not neglect, since reopening ahead of the security situation would expose traders and border communities to greater risk.
Modern border management is not a choice between total closure and unrestricted movement; it requires security, documentation, customs compliance and controlled trade facilitation together.
Political competition should not become a competition to rewrite recent history. 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.
Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
Minister of Interior
Federal Republic of Nigeria
August 29, 2026
