Lagos lawmaker appeals for patience over border closure
Deputy Majority Leader in the Lagos state House of Assembly, Mr. Olumuyiwa Jimoh, on Sunday urged Nigerians to be patient with the federal government over the continued closure of the nation’s land borders.
Jimoh, who represents Apapa Constituency II in the assembly, made the appeal while speaking in Lagos, said that for the nation to move forward, Nigerians’ appetites for foreign goods must stop as well as their quests for materialism.
He said that several controversies had trailed the closure of land borders by the federal government.
The lawmaker, who just returned from the 50th Commonwealth Parliament Association’s conference (African region), that ended on September 5 in Tanzania also advised Nigeria to emulate Tanzania and Rwanda’s approaches to development.
According to him, countries like Tanzania and Rwanda looked inward and controlled their nationals’ thirsts for foreign and imported goods, disclosing that both countries had begun to reap the dividends of that policy now.
He also decried the high rate of unemployment, poverty and mortality, not only in Nigeria, but in Africa and called for improved mechanised farming in Nigeria to tackle unemployment, hunger, poverty and move the nation forward.
“We must continue to educate our people and reawaken our social values that are dead for the nation to progress. There are a lot of problems in Africa that we must address also.
“We do not need more of imported goods than we have had. We should not be material conscious. Let us experiment it (border closure) and see the gains and we weigh it. Let us see if it will encourage local production,” Jimoh stated.
He however, admitted that Nigeria’s borders were still porous and the smuggling of foreign products is still ongoing through the various entry points into the country.
“The major borders may be closed, but smugglers are entering through other routes. What will happen is that whatever items that are still being smuggled into the country will be expensive, as we are experiencing now with the prices of rice in the market,” he added.
