The Federal Government has urged Nigerians to endure the pains of border closure as it was to ensure that Nigeria farmers are prosperous.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo said this in Benin at a town hall meeting as part of activities at the ongoing National Festival for Arts and Culture.
According to him, part of the reason for the border closure was to get the attention of neighbouring countries to be serious in border policing.
Prof. Osinbajo noted that smuggling discouraged local production and does not allow Nigeria farmers have access to market.
“Part of the reasons for shutting the border is the smuggling that has been going on. If we continue to allow the Chinese and others to continue to bring in all those things, we will kill farming completely and most of our people will not be employed,”
“There may be some pains in order to gain. The countries of the world that are prosperous didn’t allow anybody to bring in anything to their country. They made sure they grew what they eat. I can assure you that very soon you will see a great deal of progress, you will see a more of our own commodity coming into the market,” he said.
He noted that the reason some commodity are more expensive today is because smuggling has been stopped, saying that they have to encourage local farmers so that they can prosper.
Governor Godwin Obaseki, on the other hand said his administration is committed to leveraging on the state’s cultural capital to drive investment in tourism sector.
