Why I Deliberately Closed Borders Since 2019 – Buhari Explains | READ DETAILS
Few days to leave office, the incumbent president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has revealed that his order closing all the borders since 2019, was done deliberately.
According to Buhari, he ordered the closure of borders to discourage Nigerians from importing rice but eat locally produced food.
The president while speaking at the inauguration of the new Customs Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, said though Nigerians did not appreciate his idea at the beginning, they appreciated it later.
“I deliberately closed the borders because knowing Nigerians, they order rice, give some Niger address, and then they bring the rice here.”
“With our land potential – we thank God Nigeria is favoured. We have people, we have land, and we have weather. How many nations are as lucky as Nigeria in the world? Very few nations are as lucky as we are! We thank God for that.”
“So, closing that border – 1,600 kilometres from Lake Chad to Benin – and Nigerians insist they that they have to impress their neighbours and other people and they eat foreign rice. I said, ‘No rice’.”
“You eat what you grow or you die. I tried to make my point. Later Nigerians appreciated it because it provided more jobs”.
“People got back to the lands – we have them– and we produced what we eat. Let whoever grows excess rice eat his own rice or sell it somewhere else” Buhari said.
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