Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, has promised to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if he wins the 2027 election. He believes the current closure has hurt legitimate cross-border trade, especially in the northern part of the country, where many young people once earned a living moving goods between Nigeria, Niger, Benin Republic, Cameroon, and Chad.
According to Atiku, the restrictions have forced several small traders out of business, leaving many of them broke and unemployed. He warned that such widespread economic hardship is one of the things fueling insecurity and said reopening the borders is necessary to revive these businesses and create jobs again.
The former vice president also highlighted the poor state of the country’s ports and roads. He explained that moving goods from southern ports to northern states like Adamawa is unnecessarily slow and expensive because of bad infrastructure. Atiku said he would improve port facilities and transportation links to make it easier and cheaper for businesses across the country to move their goods.
