President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the country’s land borders will soon be reopened so that trade with neighbouring countries can pick up.
According to a statement, the President stated this on Tuesday, during a meeting with the 36 state governors, while asking traditional rulers and community members to improve local intelligence gathering.
In the statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari said, “Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours, we are looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible.
“The sub-region is no longer safe, more so with the collapse of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and the cross border movement of weapons and criminals.
“Governors must work with traditional rulers. Try and work with traditional rulers to boost intelligence gathering.
“Every day, I get situation reports about illegal refineries and the blowing up of pipelines. You must stop local rogues from sabotaging oil installations.”
While addressing the issues of banditry and kidnapping reported in each of the geo-political zones, the President added, “Security is important, and we must secure the whole country. We are thinking very hard on the issue of kidnapping. We will make it possible for the military to get to the bandits and kidnappers and eliminate them.”
Buhari also assured the governors that the country’s military would continue to get the support they needed to fight criminals.
“I am not going to the public to speak about the vehicles and equipment we have ordered. What I can say is that the military received armoured cars and other equipment and they are training the trainers. More of such equipment, including military aircraft, will come in,” he said.
