Atiku’s Border Reopening Plan Draws Sharp Response From Tinubu Presidency

The Presidency has pushed back against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s promise to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected president in 2027, arguing that the claim overlooks measures already taken by the Bola Tinubu administration.

Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, said he would reopen land borders that remain shut and develop seaports in southern Nigeria as part of a broader economic plan aimed at reviving trade and reducing the cost and difficulty of moving goods across the country. He argued that restrictions had damaged legitimate cross-border commerce and contributed to the collapse of businesses, particularly in northern communities.

Responding on Friday, Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, said the government could not determine which borders Atiku was referring to because the Federal Government had already directed the reopening of most land borders on March 14, 2024.

Dare said that decision had not been reversed and pointed specifically to the Kamba border in Kebbi State, which President Tinubu formally opened in February 2026. The Presidency said the move had produced economic and diplomatic benefits for communities on both sides of the border.

The dispute, however, exposes an important distinction between an officially open border and how trade and movement actually operate at individual crossing points. The Presidency's position is that Nigeria's borders are open but remain subject to immigration, customs, intelligence and security controls. Dare argued that easing legitimate trade does not require abandoning those controls.

“An open border is not an uncontrolled border,” Dare said, challenging Atiku to identify the specific restrictions he would remove and explain how his administration would prevent terrorism, arms trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking and other forms of organized crime.

The security argument is particularly relevant given Nigeria's location within a troubled Sahel and Lake Chad region. The country's borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon connect it to areas where militant and criminal networks operate across national boundaries. The Presidency therefore maintains that border management must combine easier legitimate movement with surveillance, intelligence-sharing and coordinated security operations.

Atiku's argument is centred on the economic consequences of restrictions. Speaking to supporters, he said northern states bordering Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin had historically depended on cross-border commerce and that many young traders lost businesses after border restrictions were introduced. He linked the revival of those commercial routes to job creation and improved economic security.

His proposal also extends beyond land borders. Atiku has promised to expand and rehabilitate ports in southern Nigeria, arguing that a more geographically balanced port network would reduce pressure on Lagos and shorten the time required to move imported goods to other parts of the country.

He cited the example of goods arriving through a southern port such as Calabar, Uyo or Port Harcourt and being transported to northern destinations, arguing that better infrastructure could reduce a journey that currently takes weeks to something closer to 24 hours. He said he had previously engaged shipping and port-development companies in Europe over plans for southern port development.

The Presidency's response shifts the political argument from whether borders should be open to what effective border management should look like. Dare challenged Atiku, who previously served as vice-president, to provide a detailed alternative covering surveillance, customs, immigration, technology and regional security cooperation rather than relying on the phrase “open the borders.”

The disagreement is likely to become part of the wider economic debate ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Atiku is presenting border trade and port infrastructure as tools for reducing business costs and creating jobs, while the Tinubu administration is defending its existing reforms and insisting that economic openness must operate alongside security controls.

The broader significance is that Nigeria's border question is about far more than gates and checkpoints. It sits at the intersection of trade, food prices, smuggling, employment, regional integration and national security. Atiku's proposal has reopened a debate over whether Nigeria's current system strikes the right balance, while the Presidency's response makes clear that any future government seeking to expand cross-border commerce will still have to answer the harder question: how can Nigeria make legitimate trade easier without creating new openings for the criminal and militant networks already operating across its borders?