Buhari:  I’ll implement pact on border reopening

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that his administration would implement the decision of the tripartite committee, made up of Nigeria, Benin and Niger, on the partial closure of the country’s land border as soon as the report is received.

President Buhari disclosed this at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving Mr Bashir Mamman Ifo, outgoing President of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and his successor, Dr George Nana Donkor.

The President, in a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu, said the partial closure had given Nigeria a number of insights.

“We have saved millions of Dollars. We have realised that we don’t have to import rice. We have achieved food security.

“We have curtailed the importation of drugs and proliferation of small arms which threaten our country,” President Buhari said.

Buhari, who hailed the outgoing ECOWAS Bank President for the improvements recorded in his eight-year tenure, implored his successor to build on those achievements.

Mr Ifo, the outgoing bank chief, told the President that the bank had been transformed from loss-making to profit, with commitments from ECOWAS member-states doubling to $1.4 billion dollars.

Dr Donkor, the incoming president of the bank, lauded President Buhari and Nigerians for their support in his emergence. “Without Nigeria, I could not have emerged,” he said.

Dr Donkor, who also lauded President Buhari’s economic strategies captured under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), said that it has brought about economic recovery, stability and food security in the country.

He promised commitment to partnering with Nigeria towards achieving rapid development in the country and the rest of West Africa.