The President said this on Tuesday at the inauguration of a new Customs Headquarters in Abuja, said to have cost N19.6 billion.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that only God can effectively guard Nigeria’s borders, as he noted that Lake Chad to Benin Republic is more than 1,600 kilometres long.
The President said this on Tuesday at the inauguration of a new Customs Headquarters in Abuja, said to have cost N19.6 billion.
Buhari said Nigerians who criticised him for closing land borders to encourage local food production later appreciated it, The Nation reports.
He said, “Please note that from Lake Chad to Benin Republic is more than 1,600 kilometres, only God can effectively guard the borders.
“So you need a person who has the energy and the competence to supervise. I deliberately closed the borders because knowing Nigerians, they order rice, give some to Niger and the rest, and then they bring the rice here.
“With our potential, we have people, we have land, and weather – how many nations are as lucky as Nigeria in the world, very few nations.
“So closing that border, 1,600 kilometres, Nigerians insist they eat boiled rice – you eat what you grow or you die. I tried to make my point and later Nigerians appreciated it.”
President Buhari described the policies made by his administration as deliberate, saying they were targeted at developing the country.
Describing the ban on the importation of foreign rice as one of such policies, Buhari said, “I deliberately closed the borders. I said it is either you eat what you grow or you grow what you eat and later Nigerians appreciated it”.