The Federal Government has taken a swipe at the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, over his plan to reopen the nation’s borders if elected as President in next year’s elections.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who chided Atiku for his campaign promise, spoke at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, where he warned that an uncontrolled border would lead to the return of smuggling of food and weapons, which will, in turn, worsen insecurity and hunger in the country.
He asked the PDP presidential candidate to bury the thought of reopening the country’s borders, to prevent associated challenges, which the Buhari administration has curtailed.
The Information Minister disclosed this while responding to Atiku’s campaign promise of reopening the nation’s borders during his campaign stop in Katsina State on Tuesday, where he said he will reopen all Nigerian borders if elected President.
Mohammed lamented that out of desperation, Atiku was ready to worsen the security situation in Nigeria by throwing open all the borders and allowing a massive inflow of small arms and light weapons into the country.
“Only an inordinately-ambitious candidate will wish to return Nigeria to an era of massive importation of food, to the detriment of local farmers, and an era of unbridled inflow of weapons.
“This is a red flag to Nigerians who, in line with the admonition of President Muhammadu Buhari, have been striving to produce what they eat and eat what they produce,” the Minister said.
By that statement, he said Atiku has simply informed Nigerians that he will reverse all the efforts made by the Buhari Administration to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of many staples, especially rice.
He added, “By that statement, the former Vice President has informed the country’s millions of rice farmers that they will soon lose their jobs when imported rice floods the country. By that statement, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar has told the hundreds of thousands of Nigerians working in the various rice mills that have sprung up under this Administration that their jobs are over.
“By that statement, Alhaji Atiku will shut down most, if not all, of our new fertilizer blending companies, with thousands of jobs going down the drain. And by his declaration, the former Vice President has told Nigerians that he will worsen security in the country by allowing arms and ammunition to flow unhindered into the country.”
He stressed that the President Buhari Administration has increased the number of fertilizer blending plants in the country from 10 in 2015 to 142 presently.
Mohammed also said the rice mills in the country have increased from 10 in 2015 to 80 integrated rice mills currently.
In addition, he said 10 large scale integrated rice mills were being built across the country.
He continued: “His Excellency Atiku Abubakar may also want to know that while/Nigeria was the number one export destination for rice in 2014, our country has now moved to number 79, according to Thai Authorities.
“By throwing open the borders indiscriminately as he has pledged, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has simply announced that he intends to return Nigeria to the number one importer of Thai rice in 2023!
“It is now clear that in his desperation for power, the presidential candidate of the PDP will not hesitate to export Nigerian
jobs, put millions of Nigerians out of job and ruin the fertilizer companies and the rice mills that have grown exponentially in number since Nigeria shut its land borders in 2019 (with some of them later
reopened) due to the smuggling of rice as well as arms and ammunition
into the country.”
For sheer expediency, he lamented that Atiku, a former Customs Officer, who rose to the pinnacle of his career, was ready to erase the gains made since 2015 in pushing Nigeria closer to self-sufficiency in the production of staples.
“Out of desperation, he is ready to worsen the security situation in Nigeria by throwing open all the borders and allowing a massive inflow of small arms and light weapons into the country,” the Minister added.
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