Nigerians must endure pains of border closure – Osinbajo

Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo on Friday urged Nigerians to endure the high cost of commodities occasioned by closure of the country’s borders.

Osinbajo, who spoke at a town hall meeting as part of activities of the ongoing National Festival for Arts and Culture, holding in Benin, Edo State, said the closure of the borders was to ensure prosperity of farmers in Nigeria.

He explained that part of reasons the borders were closed was to get attention of neighbouring countries to take more seriously the policing of the borders.

He said other prosperous nations did not allow any country bring goods into their domains, but opted to grow what they eat.

The Vice President noted that smuggling discouraged local production and did not allow Nigerian farmers have access to market.

According to him, “Part of the reasons for shutting the border is the smuggling that has been going on. If we continue to allow the Chinese and others to continue to bring in all those things, we will kill farming completely and most of our people will not be employed.

“There may be some pains in order to gain. The countries of the world that are prosperous didn’t allow anybody to bring in anything to their country. They made sure they grow what they eat. I can assure you that very soon you will see a great deal of progress, you will see more of our own commodities coming into the market. If we allow our own people grow these things, our people will prosper. The only way our people can prosper is if we let them use the opportunity that they have such as farming, fishing and others.

Source; PM News