Buhari: Border closure has helped to reduce influx of illegal arms

Buhari: Border closure has helped to reduce influx of illegal arms

Buhari told the President of Burkina Faso that the decision to close the land borders was purely to safeguard national security.
   
   
   
       
       
           
               
                   

Buhari told the President of Burkina Faso that the decision to close the land borders was purely to safeguard national security.

               
           
               
                   

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the partial closure of land borders has reduced the smuggling of arms and ammunition used in banditry.

               
           
               
                   

The president said this when received President Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday, February 21, 2020.

               
           
               
                   

According to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari explained that the next decision to take on the issue of border closure would be determined by a committee made up of Nigeria, Benin and Niger Republic.

               
           
               
                   

Buhari also told his guest that the decision to close the land borders was purely to safeguard national security.

               
           
               
                   

He said, “Our major problem is security — the inflow of weapons, ammunition and drugs. We have witnessed a decline in banditry using such weapons since the partial closure of the border.

               
           
               
                   

“Also, our farmers are now able to sell their rice since we stopped the inflow of foreign rice usually dumped in the country.”

               
           
               
                   

He maintained that his administration will find an enduring solution to the issue, saying, “I will work as fast as I can as soon as I receive the report.”

               
           
               
                   

Earlier, the President of Burkina Faso told Buhari that he was asked by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to resolve the issues that culminated in the partial closure of the border.

Source: Buhari: Border closure has helped to reduce influx of illegal arms

- gist culled from pulseng