Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has called on the Federal Government to reopen Nigeria’s land borders.

In August, President Muhammadu Buhari said that the closure of Nigeria’s border with Benin Republic, was due to massive smuggling activities.

But Falana said it would be in the interest of Nigeria for the Federal Government to reopen the borders. 

According to Punch, the lawyer gave the advise on Thursday, October 24, 2019, while delivering a paper on “Rule of Law, Good Governance and Economic Development” at the annual conference of the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Accra, Ghana.

Falana urged the government to “urgently dialogue with Nigeria’s neighbouring countries to jointly fight the menace of smuggling, which necessitated the border closure by Nigeria.”

He also advised the Federal Government to reject International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) endorsement of the border closure.

He said the endorsement of the policy by IMF is “a deliberate design to weaken ECOWAS regional integration agenda.”

“Border closure is inconsistent with the letter and spirit of ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. The endorsement of the IMF is a deliberate design to weaken the ECOWAS regional integration agenda.

“The borders should be reopened without any further delay as it cannot be sustained for too long without serious repercussions for the Nigerian economy.

“The neighbouring countries may retaliate by imposing a ban on goods being exported from Nigeria by air. They may also close down Nigerian banks and other businesses operating in other member states of the ECOWAS.

“Instead of resorting to the unilateral closure of borders the Federal Government should drag the Republics of Benin and Niger to the Court of Justice of the ECOWAS for breaching the ECOWAS Protocol by allegedly encouraging the smuggling of petrol, rice and other products. In the alternative, smuggling should be addressed like terrorism which is being jointly combated by Nigeria and her neighbours.” he said.

Falana urges FG not to close borders because of a few smugglers

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) also argued that closing the land borders is as good as imposing undue punishment on law-abiding corporate bodies and community citizens “because of the criminal activities of a few trans-border smugglers.”

“The Federal Government should expose the smugglers by arresting and prosecuting them. The smugglers in Nigeria and the neighbouring countries are well-known by the security agencies. Without official connivance, the crime of smuggling cannot thrive in the region,” he said. 

On checking the Nigeria’s land borders, Falana advised government to deploy technology to monitor border areas and track smugglers.