Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s pledge to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected President in 2027, insisting that the borders are already open and therefore cannot be reopened.
Tunji-Ojo, in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja, said the former Vice President’s position failed to distinguish between borders previously reopened for trade and movement and crossings still subject to security restrictions because of insurgency and banditry.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, had promised to reopen Nigeria’s land borders, arguing that their closure had crippled legitimate trans-border trade and forced many young entrepreneurs out of business.
But Tunji-Ojo, who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service, said the record showed that several major land borders had already been reopened under successive administrations.
“As the Minister of Interior who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service being an agency of government in charge of border control and migration management, it is expedient to state that Nigerian borders are not closed and so cannot be reopened,” he said.
The minister traced the reopening of several border posts to previous years, saying Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum were reopened on December 16, 2020.
According to him, Idiroko and Ikom were subsequently reopened for goods and services on April 20, 2022.
He added that the current administration reopened Kamba and Tsamiya border posts in Kebbi State in February 2026, restoring access to routes linking Nigeria with Niger Republic and Benin Republic.
Tunji-Ojo also challenged Atiku’s reference to Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic.
He said the prolonged closures at Banki and Amchidé along the Cameroon axis were not connected to the 2019 trade restrictions often cited in discussions about Nigeria’s land borders.
Rather, he said, those closures dated back to 2014 and were imposed because of Boko Haram insurgency and serious security threats in the affected areas.
“The prolonged closures on the Cameroon border, at Banki and Amchidé, did not arise from the 2019 trade policy at all,” the minister said.
“They date to 2014, when Boko Haram forced their closure for security reasons, and reopened in 2019, with Fotokol and Gambaru following in 2021, after joint military and stabilisation efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.”
Tunji-Ojo argued that combining security-driven closures with trade-related restrictions created a misleading impression that Nigeria’s borders had remained shut continuously.
“Folding this separate, security driven history into one continuous 2019 shutdown misrepresents two distinct issues, trade regulation and counter insurgency, as a single failure,” he said.
The minister, however, acknowledged that not every northern crossing is operating without restrictions.
He explained that some border points remain under tighter control because of banditry, insurgency and other security concerns.
According to him, such restrictions should not be interpreted as evidence of wholesale border closure.
“Where banditry or residual insurgent activity persists, tighter control is a deliberate security judgement, not neglect, since reopening ahead of the security situation would expose traders and border communities to greater risks,” Tunji-Ojo said.
The minister maintained that modern border management required a balance between national security and economic activity.
He said border administration could no longer be reduced to a simple choice between complete closure and unrestricted movement.
According to him, effective management must combine security screening, immigration documentation, customs enforcement and controlled trade facilitation.
The disagreement has become another flashpoint in the emerging 2027 presidential contest, with the Tinubu administration and Atiku trading conflicting narratives over economic policy, trade and border management.
Atiku had argued that closing Nigeria’s borders with neighbouring countries severely affected traders who depended on cross-border commerce for their livelihoods.
He said many young Nigerians who previously operated legitimate businesses with substantial capital had been pushed into unemployment because of the restrictions.
The former Vice President also pledged to develop ports in southern Nigeria as part of a wider plan to strengthen domestic and regional trade.
But Tunji-Ojo urged political actors to avoid rewriting recent history in the course of electioneering.
He challenged Atiku to present a distinct border management proposal and explain how it would improve on the current arrangement.
“If he has a new border management 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,” he said.
The minister’s intervention came after the Presidency had earlier rejected Atiku’s border reopening pledge, similarly insisting that most land borders were already open.
With the 2027 campaigns gathering momentum, the dispute is likely to deepen the wider political argument over whether existing border policies have adequately balanced security concerns with the economic interests of traders and communities dependent on cross-border commerce.
For Tunji-Ojo, however, the central issue is not whether Nigeria should reopen its borders, but how already operational crossings should be managed without compromising national security.
And as the political battle intensifies, Atiku may now face pressure to define precisely what he means by “reopening” the borders and how his proposed policy would differ from the current system of controlled movement, trade facilitation and security restrictions.
