The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s plan to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected President in 2027, stating that the country’s borders are not closed and therefore cannot be reopened.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Tunji-Ojo, who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service, the agency responsible for border and migration management, said it was necessary to correct what he described as a wrong impression about the status of Nigeria’s borders.
“As the Minister of Interior who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service, 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,” the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo recalled that the previous administration reopened four major land borders Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum on December 16, 2020. Idiroko and Ikom were subsequently reopened for goods and services on April 20, 2022.
He added that the current administration reopened Kamba and Tsamiya border posts in Kebbi State in February 2026, providing links to Niger Republic and Benin Republic respectively.
The minister also disputed Atiku’s reference to Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic as having been subjected to prolonged closure because of the 2019 trade policy.
According to him, the prolonged closures on the Cameroon border at Banki and Amchidé did not arise from the 2019 trade policy. They date back to 2014, when Boko Haram forced their closure for security reasons. The crossings were reopened in 2019, with Fotokol and Gambaru following in 2021 after joint military and stabilisation efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Tunji-Ojo emphasised that 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.
He urged that political competition should not become a competition to rewrite recent history, and called on Atiku to present any new border proposal in detail rather than treating separate trade, security and infrastructure issues as one and the same.