The closure of Nigeria’s land borders for over two months has elicited reactions from different stakeholders, with farmers expressing support for the action.

But some economists, including the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muda Yusuf, and the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said the development might not augur well for the Nigerian economy as it could come with high losses.

The Nigeria Customs Service reported a drastic reduction in smuggling of rice, poultry products and sugar had followed the closure, just as it said the smuggling of petroleum products from Nigeria to neighboring countries had declined considerably.

Farmers now more active, says RIFAN

The President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Aminu Goronyo, told The PUNCH that the closure had made farmers across the country to increase their farming activities.

He said, “The closure of our borders is good for the country, particularly for farmers. This is because it is going to make us to be more active and has made us to go back to the farm. And instead of one cropping season in a year, it is now going to be three cropping seasons annually.

“The impact of this will start to show maybe in the next three to four months. As long as the closure of the borders is meant to stop the importation of food items into Nigeria, we are 100 per cent in support of it.”

Chicken production has increased to 70 per cent, says PAN

On their part, the Poultry Association of Nigeria said the production of broiler chicken had increased to 70 per cent as a result of the closure of Nigeria’s borders.

PAN’s President, Ezekiel Ibrahim, said a recent study conducted by the association revealed that the closure of the borders had impacted positively on local poultry production.

He said, “The move within a few months has also raised the production of broiler chicken from 45 per cent to 70 per cent.”

According to him, the Republic of Benin had been a transit camp for the smuggling of over one million metric tonnes of frozen chicken into Nigeria for the past 10 years.

It comes with high cost, says LCCI

The LCCI DG, Yusuf, said the closure of Nigeria’s land borders posed a dilemma to the country’s economy, despite the benefits it had recorded so far.

He said, “We note and appreciate the outcomes. But it is important to reckon with the costs, supply chain disruptions and losses that businesses and individuals have suffered as a result of the closure.  Corporates, large number of informal sector players and individuals doing legitimate businesses across the borders have become victims of the border closure.  This poses a dilemma.

“The government means well, but there are many innocent casualties. As we celebrate the benefits, we should also count the costs.  Jobs have been lost; prices have skyrocketed.”

Yusuf explained that the economies of border communities had been paralysed with consequences for unemployment and poverty, adding that over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s trade with the West African sub region was by road.

Onyekpere also called for caution, stressing that the claims that the border closure had stopped smuggling was an indictment on the NCS.

“If they said it had stopped smuggling, then what have the Customs been doing?” he wondered.

The economist also pointed out that the border closure contravened some treaties Nigeria signed with neighbouring countries.

He said, “We cannot be observing those treaties in the breach. Besides, Nigeria is not an island unto itself. What they are doing is an ad hoc measure. It cannot be good for the country in the long run.”

But a developmental economist, Odilim Enwegbara, said the border closure was a welcome development, which would in the long run be of immense benefit to the Nigerian economy.

“The closure of the borders has had positive impact on the economy. This is what the Federal Government should have done many years ago. No sovereign nation should allow its borders to be overrun indiscriminately.

“In fact, the borders should be closed permanently, and only opened for movement of human beings, not for goods and services,” he said.

A former Nigerian High Commissioner to Angola, Ambassador Folorunso Otukoya, said that the border closure was necessary for national security and economic survival.

He said the Federal Government could not sacrifice national stability and development on the altar of good neighbourliness.

Otukoya stated, “The benefits are multi-faceted; it shows that the government had a good idea of what is in the national interest. The Comptroller-General of Customs has told us how much has been generated from preventing smuggling of goods into the country.

“Secondly, we are now at a place where we are encouraging local production and the more we produce, the better it gets. We are encouraging farmers and we are assuring them of market for their produce.”