Senate Divided Over Continued Border Closure

By Oji Odu

Aftermath of the temporary closure of Nigeria’s land borders has pitched the nations legislators against themselves. They vary in their views on the closure last month by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a motion sponsored by Senator Adamu Aliero (APC, Kebbi Central) and 10 others, the Members of the Red Chamber expressed their views on the topical issue.

Although  they agreed that the measure may have made positive impact in the security sector,  like  reduction in the supply of arms and ammunition to both Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA), they still varied in opinion on the closure.

In a heated debate, the senators who supported the action, declared that the Nigerian economy is experiencing positive gains that are impacting on the country. They said that fuel smuggling has significantly reduced, thereby saving the country billions of scarce foreign exchange spent by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to import fuel into the country.

Speaking, Aliero argued that the manufacturing sector has breathed a sigh of relief from the ongoing economic boost as factories which were hitherto dying are now bouncing back to produce items such as tomato puree, milk, chicken, fish and even toothpicks as a result of the border closure.

He said: “Concerns over deteriorating security situation in Nigeria are slowing down particularly because arms smuggling through the borders and foreign fighters coming to boost the insurgency of Book Haram and their Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA) collaborators have been jolted.”

But  senators, who represent people in the border towns, including Senate Minority Leader,Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senators Abba Moro, Gabriel Suswan and Sani Musa, among others, opposed the border closure. They lamented the increased suffering and other devastating effects on their constituents who have also lost their means of livelihood.

For Abba Moro, (PDP-Benue), and former Minister of Interior, Nigeria is administering a wrong dose of medicine to an ailment. It is a wrong option, he insists.

According to him:: “Nigeria has only 87 legal land border routes. “We have over 1000 illegal routes and the immigration can’t man it. When you close the legitimate routes, the illegitimate routes are used.”

Although Senator Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP-Taraba), believe that the closure may help  in some areas, he however advocated for a long-term solution within this period of the temporal closure of the land borders. He is also of the opinion that the policies of government should not bring hardship to the people, but improve their living standards.

Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe, (PDP-Abia), would rather  see the Federal Government trying to score a political point while describing the closure as  public relations for the federal government. He said that the situation is more than the paper presented.

Abaribe regretted that the price of rice has gone up and students schooling in Benin Republic can’t go because of the closure of the land border, since airlines do not have direct flight to that country.

The Abia lawmaker indicted the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) and other agencies who, he said, have failed in their responsibilities.

In his contribution, Sen. Gabriel Suswam (PDP-Benue), warned that Nigeria should be mindful of the free trade agreement and the ECOWAS deal it signed, adding that closing the borders might amount to violating the agreement.

“If we want to stem insecurity and halt illegal things from coming into the country, Nigeria must engage countries that border us.

“We must ensure that we patrol the border on the air,” Suswam said.

The plenary presided over by Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, urged Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to increase diplomatic outreach to the governments of Benin, Cameron, Niger and Chad Republic to avoid been used as smuggling base. This is also aimed at making them not to perceive the land border closure as punitive measure targeted at them.

But James Dimabo, a political analyst, accused the legislators who oppose the closure of Nigeria’s land borders of selfishness and hypocrisy. “ They are afraid that they may soon not be able to eat their foreign rice and enjoy those foreign goods that have strangulated the nations economy.

“ However, what continues to baffle me in the whole drama is the muteness in patronising made in Nigeria Innoson vehicle. The prices are not comparable to the said Toyota SUV’s being demanded by these legislators. The whole drama smacks of high level hypocrisy.”

According to the Magazine’s findings, the 2019 price list of Innoson SUV’s shows that Innoson G5 Wagon goes for N6.38 million, while the G6 is N6.6 million to N7 million. The G40 Wagon sells for N17,325,000, as the G80 is sold for N27,825,000. This cannot be compared to the N5.5 billion to be spent for Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs for these Senators, at about N50 million each for the 109 Senators.

“Even with the purchase of the costliest G80 which goes for N27,825,000, Nigeria would have saved about two billion naira,” Dimabo added.