Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has pledged to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Atiku argued that prolonged border restrictions have crippled legitimate cross-border trade and driven thousands of young entrepreneurs out of business .
Atiku made the commitment while addressing supporters in a video circulating online and shared by ADC chieftain Dele Momodu on Friday.
He argued that communities in northern Nigeria, which share borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic and Benin Republic, have traditionally depended on cross-border commerce for their livelihoods—and that the closures have devastated those economies .
“The Northern states are bordering Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic. And you close all those borders. All our young men who are doing trading between these countries, they carry goods across, they do this and that, all what we call transborder trade is a legitimate business,” Atiku said .
The former vice president said many young Nigerians who had built businesses with substantial capital running into millions of naira had been forced to shut down following the border restrictions—and that the consequences extend beyond the traders themselves to those they employed .
“All the upcoming young men and women who used to have a capital of 10 million, 20 million, and they were employing two, three other people, and then all of them went bankrupt and unemployed. How can there be security?” he asked .
“So I said I am going to reopen the borders and I will,” Atiku added .
Nigeria’s land borders were first shut in August 2019 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Federal Government cited the need to curb large-scale smuggling of rice, poultry products, petroleum and other goods, as well as weapons and drugs, while encouraging domestic agricultural production .
In December 2020, Buhari ordered the reopening of four borders, including Seme Border in Lagos State, Illela Border in Sokoto State, Maigatari Border in Jigawa State and Mfun Border in Cross River State. Under President Bola Tinubu, the Federal Government reopened the Tsamiya land border with Benin Republic in Kebbi State and the Kamba corridor linking Nigeria with Niger Republic in February 2026 . Despite those developments, some land borders have remained restricted or under tight controls .
Atiku also advocated improved port infrastructure in southern Nigeria, saying it would create a more efficient route for moving imported goods to the northern part of the country. He said he had previously engaged shipping and ship development companies in Europe over plans to develop ports in the South-East and South-South .
“During the last campaign, I went across to Europe to discuss with shippers and ship development companies how we can together develop South and South-Eastern ports so that there is balance as far as importation of goods and transportation of goods are concerned,” he said .
Atiku said better-developed ports in the southern region would significantly cut the time and expense involved in transporting goods to the North-East. Using Yola in Adamawa State, where he said he has a factory, as an example, he noted that moving containers from Lagos was unnecessarily difficult and time-consuming .
“So when, if I drop my container in Calabar or in Uyo or in Port Harcourt, it will just take me 24 hours to take the container to Yola. But right now, it takes me not less than two months to take my container from Lagos because you have to cross over from South-West, you go to North-East, and then there is even no road,” Atiku said .
The former vice president is expected to make border policy and regional trade a central theme of his economic message ahead of the 2027 presidential election, presenting freer legitimate trade as a way to support businesses, employment and national security .
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