Susan Abayomi
The Presidency has challenged former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to clarify his promise to reopen Nigeria’s borders if elected president in 2027.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said Nigeria’s land borders were already open, noting that the Federal Government had reopened most of the country’s land borders in March 2024.
Dare made the clarification in response to Atiku’s pledge to reopen the borders as part of his proposed policies ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
According to the Presidency, the government has not reversed the decision to reopen the borders, while President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also opened the Kamba border in Kebbi State in February 2026.
Dare therefore questioned what specific changes Atiku intended to introduce if he was referring to reopening borders that are already operational.
He urged the former Vice President to explain whether his proposal involved relaxing existing border controls and, if so, identify the controls he intended to remove and how his administration would prevent security threats associated with uncontrolled cross-border movement.
The Presidency stressed that open borders should not be confused with uncontrolled borders, noting that effective border management requires immigration and customs procedures, intelligence-sharing, surveillance technology and coordinated security operations.
Dare also linked border security to Nigeria’s wider security situation, particularly developments across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, where Nigeria shares borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
He argued that terrorism, violent extremism, arms trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling and other forms of organised crime have increasingly taken on a transnational dimension, making effective border management essential to national security.
The Presidency said the Federal Government’s security operations in the Northeast and Northwest should not be interpreted as evidence that Nigeria’s borders are closed, describing them instead as part of efforts to protect border communities and strengthen national security.
Dare urged Atiku to present a detailed policy framework explaining how he would improve border surveillance, strengthen intelligence-sharing with neighbouring countries, modernise customs and immigration operations, deploy technology and enhance regional cooperation against transnational crime.
He maintained that Nigerians deserved a substantive policy debate ahead of the 2027 election rather than broad campaign slogans.
The development has added border management to the growing list of policy issues being debated by political parties and presidential contenders ahead of the 2027 general election.
While the Presidency maintains that Nigeria’s borders are already open to legitimate movement and trade, it insists that security controls must remain in place to prevent criminal networks and terrorist groups from exploiting the country’s international boundaries.
