Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:23 pm
Farmers and traders are distressed after Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari closed all neighbouring borders around the country with a plan to end Nigeria’s economic dependence on oil, by developing domestic agriculture and industry.
The border closure means Nigeria is choked off from supplies until the next harvest by local farmers.
“These tomatoes are rotting in the field because the border is closed and our customers have stopped coming to buy them. Everything rotted in the field and this means we end up being in debt,” said Parfait Glokpo, a Farmer.
“ These tomatoes are rotting in the field because the border is closed and our customers have stopped coming to buy them. ”
With cheap goods smuggled or imported hampering domestic producers, Buhari had ordered a partial closure of the border with Benin in August.
However, the borders with all neighbouring countries were shut down completely this September.
With Benin still smuggling subsidized fuel in Nigeria, the border closures are also difficult for traffickers to deal with.
Some of the traders in the region say they don’t have other means of sending their children to school and that they are unable to repay back loans.
“It is so difficult with the closure of the border, smugglers go through the bush with two cans each time they cross,” said Anon, Contraband petrol courier.
According to official figures, Nigeria has been ramping up rice production, with local output rising by 60% since 2013.
But at 4.8 million tons last year, local rice production was still not enough for the 190 million Nigerians.
Writing to The Economist, Her Excellency Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs,…
On Thursday, the initial lot of 100,000 mpox vaccine doses arrived in the Congo capital of Kinshasa, just three weeks…
Having given approximately AED360 billion ($98.09 billion) in overseas aid since its inception in 1971 till mid-2024, the United Arab…
South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma's 21-year-old daughter is marrying the King of Eswatini for love, a spokesman for Africa's…
At the 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced an ambitious strategy to lift…
In yet another sad event involving migrants trying to reach Europe, on Tuesday a boat carrying thirty-two migrants overturned off…
This website uses cookies.