African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has promised to reopen Nigeria’s northern borders if elected president in 2027.
Atiku made the pledge on Friday while addressing supporters in a video circulating online.
He said the closure of the borders had disrupted legitimate cross-border trading and pushed many young Nigerians into unemployment and bankruptcy.
According to him, traders doing business across Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger Republic and Benin Republic had suffered significant financial losses.
He said many young men and women who invested more than N1 million in trans-border trading had lost their businesses, while others they employed had also become jobless.
Atiku linked the rising unemployment to the worsening security situation in the northern region.
He said: “All our young men who are engaged in trading between these countries — what we call trans-border trading — are involved in a legitimate business.
“All the young men and women with capital of over one million naira, recruiting two to three others, have gone bankrupt and become unemployed. How can there be security?
“I am going to reopen all the borders.”
