Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has vowed to reopen Nigerian borders for legal cross-border trade, lamenting the closure of borders in the northern region and saying the policy has left many young Nigerians in cross-border trade bankrupt and unemployed.

Mr Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress’ presidential candidate for 2027, made the vow while hosting ADC members at his Asokoro residence on Thursday.

A video of his engagement with the ADC members was circulated on social media.

“The Northern states bordering Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the Benin Republic. Then you closed all those borders. All our young men who are doing trading between these countries, what we call transborder trade. It is a legitimate business,” Mr Abubakar said in the video.

Lamenting the ripple effect of the border closure policy on transborder trade, Mr Abubakar said he will reopen the borders if elected in the 2027 presidential election.

“All the upcoming young men and women who used to have a capital of N10 (million), 20 million, employing two, three people, all of them went bankrupt and unemployed. How can there be security? So, I said I’m going to reopen the borders,” Mr Abubakar said.

The ADC presidential candidate stated that “during the last campaign, I went across to Europe to discuss with shippers and ship development companies how we can together develop South and South-Eastern ports so that there is balance as far as importation of goods and transportation of goods are concerned”.

For Mr Abubakar, such a move is important for him and others in the manufacturing business, as it would ease the movement of their goods and other materials needed in their factories.

“So when, if I drop my container in Calabar or in Uyo or in Port Harcourt, it will just take me 24 hours to take the container to Yola. But right now, it takes me not less than two months to take my container from Lagos because you have to cross over from South-West, you go to North-East, and then there is even no road,” Mr Abubakar said.

Mr Abubakar’s promise to restore the subsidy has sparked debate over fuel subsidies and strong pushback from incumbent President Bola Tinubu, who dismissed the idea as an ignorant stance on the policy.