The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s promise to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027, insisting that the country’s borders are already open and therefore cannot be “reopened.”
Tunji-Ojo, who oversees the Nigeria Immigration Service, said Atiku’s claim appeared to conflate different periods involving trade restrictions, security-related border closures and infrastructure challenges into what he described as a single, continuous shutdown.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the minister recalled that several major land border crossings had been reopened under the previous administration, while additional crossings had subsequently been restored.
According to him, the Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum borders were reopened on December 16, 2020, while the Idiroko and Ikom borders were reopened for the movement of goods and services on April 20, 2022.
He added that the current administration reopened the Kamba and Tsamiya border crossings in Kebbi State in February 2026, restoring links with the Niger Republic and the Benin Republic respectively.
Tunji-Ojo also challenged claims surrounding border closures along the Cameroon axis, arguing that restrictions at Banki and Amchidé were unrelated to the 2019 trade policy.
He explained that the two crossings were shut in 2014 following Boko Haram attacks and subsequently reopened in 2019, while Fotokol and Gambaru were reopened in 2021 following joint military and stabilisation efforts involving Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
The minister said portraying the separate developments as one prolonged border closure since 2019 amounted to a distortion of the historical record.
“Folding this separate, security-driven history into one continuous 2019 shutdown misrepresents two distinct issues—trade regulation and counter-insurgency—as a single failure,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He, however, acknowledged that some border crossings in northern Nigeria still operate under restrictions, stressing that such measures were based on prevailing security realities.
“Where banditry or residual insurgent activity persists, tighter control is a deliberate security judgement, not neglect,” the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo argued that effective border management could not be reduced to a choice between completely shutting borders and allowing unrestricted movement.
According to him, modern border governance requires a balance between national security, proper documentation, customs compliance and controlled trade facilitation.
The minister consequently challenged Atiku to clearly outline the specific changes his proposed border policy would introduce if elected president, rather than characterising Nigeria’s current border management system as a wholesale closure.
“Political competition should not become a competition to rewrite recent history,” Tunji-Ojo said.
“If he has a new border proposal, he should set it out and explain how it differs from the current approach, rather than treating separate trade, security and infrastructure issues as one and the same.”
