Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, says Nigeria is ready to reopen its land borders to trade for the first time since August 2019 after closing them to stamp out smuggling.
“We will be expecting that the borders will be reopened very soon,” Hajiya Zainab Ahmed told State House correspondents on Wednesday., explaining that the president would determine the exact date.
She said presidential committee set up on the matter had completed its job and recommended the reopening of the borders.
The minister explained that the committee would soon submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari, following which a formal pronouncement would be made on the matter.
She did not however, disclose when the report will be submitted and how soon the land borders to be reopened.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, closed its land borders in late 2019 over concerns about illegal exports of price-controlled gasoline and illegal imports of food stocks such as rice and poultry, which it believed harmed local producers.
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