Nigeria is said to reopen four of its land borders on December 31, 2020.
These are the South-West, North-West and two South borders.
The reopening of the land borders of the Continent’s biggest economy, follows its announcement by President Muhammadu Buhari during a meeting with elected Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party in Abuja earlier this month.
The closure of its land borders in August 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria explained, was to curb smuggling of goods as well as curtail the importation of substandard goods into the country.
But skyrocketing prices of goods pushing inflation in the country to a 13 month high, has forced the West African country to reopen it’s land borders.
President of the Ghana Union Trade Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, has welcomed the reopening of Nigeria’s borders but notes that the reopening is as a result of the impact the border closure has had on its own citizenry.
“Nigeria’s decision to soon reopen its borders is good news, it has now realised that it cannot live in isolation. But mind you, the reopening of their borders is not as a result of external calls to do so but rather from their own citizens. Because their citizens are feeling the effects of the closure and are suffering, most of the goods locked outside the borders belong to Nigerians, so they are really feeling the pinch of the border closure,” he stated.
With the reopening of the land borders, Ghanaian traders can now trade with their Nigerian counterparts importing and exporting goods from and to either country.
