Boom back at border communities

 Wednesday’s reopening of shut land borders returned life to neighbouring communities.There was instant jubilation at Seme, a Lagos State town on the border with Benin Republic, following the announcement that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the immediate reopening of four land borders.

The Nation

The other borders are to reopen latest by December 31.

Reopening Thursday are Seme Border in Lagos, Ilela in Sokoto, Maigatari in Jigawa and Mfun in Cross River states.

The borders were shut October 14 last year to curtail the smuggling and illegal importation of drugs, small arms, food and agricultural products as well as smuggling of subsidised petrol from Nigeria to neighbouring West African countries.

In recent months, there has been agitations for the borders to be reopened.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, told reporters after the FEC meeting that the ban on the importation of some commodities remained in force.