In order to boost food production in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has claimed that he purposefully closed the nation’s borders.
Although the action drew harsh criticism, Buhari stated that Nigerians eventually came to respect it.
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On Tuesday, he made this statement at the opening of the new Customs Headquarters in Abuja.
He said at the event;
I deliberately closed the borders because knowing Nigerians, they order rice, give some Niger address, and then they bring the rice here.
With our land potential – we thank God Nigeria is favoured. We have people, we have land, and we have weather. How many nations are as lucky as Nigeria in the world? Very few nations are as lucky as we are! We thank God for that.
Continuing, he said;
So, closing that border – 1,600 kilometres from Lake Chad to Benin – and Nigerians insist they that they have to impress their neighbours and other people and they eat foreign rice. I said, ‘No rice’.
You eat what you grow or you die. I tried to make my point. Later Nigerians appreciated it because it provided more jobs.
People got back to the lands – we have them– and we produced what we eat. Let whoever grows excess rice eat his own rice or sell it somewhere else.
