Border closure, best decision by Buhari ― PDP chieftain

The closure of Nigeria’s borders has been described as the best decision coming from President Muhammadu Buhari in recent times.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, who gave the verdict on Friday, reiterated that President Buhari’s decision to close all the land borders in the country remained the best option for the economic development of the country.

Amid the pains and groans by Nigerians in view of skyrocketing prices of staple foods such as rice, the PDP chieftain predicted that the current suffering will be ephemeral.

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Onuesoke, while addressing newsmen in Warri, Delta State, pointed out that the border closure would inadvertently force the Nigeria government to address certain fundamental issues in the country’s economy.

He added that closing the borders was an opportunity to encourage local producers to increase their output and make something positive out of the situation.

“When we close our doors to the importation of some goods, the locally made goods will enjoy patronage.

“By so doing,  we are increasing the Gross Domestic Product of the nation, creating employment for our local people and at the same time, poverty will be eradicated,” he conjectured.

The former governorship aspirant disclosed that Nigeria spends a lot of foreign currency to import petroleum products which are criminally smuggled across the borders at the expense of draining the country’s foreign exchange to import the petroleum products.

Onuesoke stated that the partial closure of Nigeria’s borders has prevented the smuggling of 10.78 million litres of the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, between August and September 2019.

“Figures obtained from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency in Abuja showed that the truck-out of petrol within the last month declined by over 10 million litres.  This a great benefit to Nigeria economy,” he observed.

Onuesoke maintained that the closure had shown Nigerian capacities to produce some of their products like rice and fishes, adding that if the citizenry continues to grow these capacities, then the nation could become truly self-sufficient in future.

He explained that the closure of the borders would go a long way in solving the country’s insecurity problems, hence most of the weapons being used for kidnapping, armed robbery, insurgency, banditry and other crimes gainèd inroads from porous borders concealed in foods and other goods imported into Nigeria.

The PDP stalwart, therefore, advised Nigerians to be patient with the Federal Government’s policy on the closure of borders,  stressing that people might presently be facing hardships, but self-sufficiency lurks ahead.