President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Abuja appealed to Nigeria’s neighbours to be more patient pending the report of the tripartite committee made up of Nigeria, Benin and Niger Republic to look at the issue of border closure. He made the appeal when he received President Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso at the Presidential Villa.
According to him, Nigeria’s decision to partially close the border was purely to safeguard national security. The authority of Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government in Addis Abba, Ethiopia earlier in the month constituted a committee, headed by President Kabore, to study and make a full report on Nigeria’s land border closure with her neighbours. The decision to set up the committee was agreed at an extraordinary session of ECOWAS leaders convened on the margins of the just concluded 33rd African Union (AU) Summit. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement quoted Buhari as saying: “Our major problem is security – the inflow of weapons, ammunition, and drugs. We have witnessed a decline in banditry using such weapons since the partial closure of the border. Also, our farmers are now able to sell their rice since we stopped the inflow of foreign rice, usually dumped in the country.”
President Buhari said Nigeria was very much mindful of the concerns of neighbouring countries on the issue, assuring that his administration will find an early and enduring solution. “I will work as fast as I can as soon as I receive the report,” he assured. Earlier, the President of Burkina Faso told President Buhari that he came on the visit, following the mandate of ECOWAS to resolve the issues that culminated in the partial closure of the border, adding that some of the challenges had been discussed, and agreed upon, urging the Nigerian leader to reconsider the position of the country.