Nigeria’s land borders remained partially shut on Monday, a measure put in place in August last year to check smuggling of food items and alleged illegal importation of arms, ammunition and hard drugs.
The policy remained in place as the Authority of Economic Community of West African States Heads of State and Government constituted a committee to look into it.
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The committee is headed by President Roch Kabore of Burkina Faso.
The committee is to study and make a “full report on Nigeria’s land border closure with her neighbours”, according to a State House statement on Monday.
“The decision to set up the committee was agreed on Sunday night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at an extraordinary session of ECOWAS leaders convened on the margins of the 33rd AU Summit to discuss the issue and other pressing regional matters,” the statement by presidential media aide, Mr Garba Shehu, explained.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, informed journalists after the three-hour session that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the ECOWAS Chairman, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic also discussed the proposed West Africa's new single currency, the Eco.
He said the leaders also discussed the situation in Guinea Bissau after that country’s presidential election.
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However, Onyeama stated that the borders would remain closed while the committee did its work. Punch
