The Nigerian Senate, on Wednesday, resolved to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for shutting down all the Nigerian land borders.
This followed a motion raised by Senator Adamu Aliero (APC, Kebbi Central) at today’s plenary, which got the support of over 2/3 majority.
According to the upper legislative chambers, the President’s decision was to “rectify the deteriorating effect on our country of persistent smuggling of products that negatively affect the Nigerian economy’s decline the well-being of our nation”.
The Senate equally resolved to commend the Nigerian Customs Service “for their role in intensifying the curbing of smuggling across the borders, and ridding Nigeria of smuggled goods and services.”
This is even as the red chambers vowed to task the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to increase diplomatic outreach to the government of the Republic of Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad to take urgent measures to stop their countries from being used as smuggling base “to perpetuate the illegal importation of unwanted goods into Nigeria.”
While assuring the said countries that the border closure was not a punitive measure targeted at them, the Senate directed the Committee on Customs and Tariff, Trade and Investment and Interior to review the border closure and recommend “sustainable resolution.”
