Buhari: We are set to reopen land borders

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the Federal Government was set to reopen the nation’s land borders.

He gave this indication after a closed-door meeting with the 36 state governors even as he urged the governors to work more with traditional rulers and community members to improve local intelligence gathering to aid the work of security agencies.

The meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja focused on the issue of security.

The President explained that the closure of the nation’s land borders was partly an attempt to control the smuggling in of weapons and drugs.

A statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu, quoted the President as saying, “Now that the message has sunk in with our neighbours, we are looking into reopening the borders as soon as possible.”

The President, who listened to presentations by a governor from each of the six geopolitical zones on their specific security challenges, recalled that in the old order, communities identified newcomers and passed information to constituted authorities.

Buhari said, “The sub-region is no longer safe, more so with the collapse of the former Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and the cross border movement of weapons and criminals.

“Governors must work with traditional rulers. Try and work with traditional rulers to boost intelligence gathering.”

The President said his administration had done well in the North-East and South-South, adding that the South-South situation was still worrisome.

He said, “Every day I get situation reports about illegal refineries and the blowing up of pipelines. You must stop local rogues from sabotaging oil installations.”

Addressing the issue of banditry and kidnapping in each of the geo-political zones, President Buhari said, “Security is important and we must secure the whole country. We are thinking very hard on the issue of kidnapping. We will make it possible for the military to get to the bandits and kidnappers and eliminate them.”

He gave assurances that the country’s military would continue to get the support needed to fight criminals.

“I am not going to the public to speak about the vehicles and equipment we have ordered. What I can say is that the military received armoured cars and other equipment and they are training the trainers. More of such equipment, including military aircraft will come in,” he said.