FACT-CHECK: Are Nigeria’s Land Borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic Currently Closed?

BY: Afeez Rabiu

CLAIM:

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says Nigeria’s land borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic are closed and that he would reopen them if elected president in 2027.

VERDICT: 

Misleading. 

FULL TEXT: 

Speaking during an engagement with supporters in Abuja in August, 26 2026, Atiku said: “The Northern states border Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic. And you close all those borders.”

He argued that young Nigerians previously involved in legitimate trans-border trade had lost their businesses following the closures and pledged to reopen the borders if elected president in 2027.

The Presidency and Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo subsequently challenged the claim, maintaining that Nigeria’s land borders had already been reopened.

In a statement dated August 28 and published by the State House on August 29, the Presidency said Nigeria’s land borders were already open and argued that controlled border management should not be confused with border closure.

Tunji-Ojo similarly said Nigerian borders “are not closed and so cannot be reopened,” citing successive reopening decisions since 2020.

VERIFICATION: 

FactcheckAfrica can establish that Nigeria closed its land borders in August 2019 under former President Muhammadu Buhari as part of measures aimed principally at curbing smuggling and protecting domestic production.

On December 16, 2020, the Buhari administration approved the reopening of four major land crossings, including Seme,  which links Nigeria with Benin Republic.

Additional crossings were subsequently reopened. Idiroko, another important Nigeria-Benin trade route, was approved for reopening in April 2022.

More recently, cross-border trade through the Tsamiya–Segbana corridor in Kebbi State, connecting Nigeria with Benin and onward to Niger Republic, resumed in February 2026.

Nigeria Customs Service records from February 2026 also show officials conducting compliance operations along the reopened Tsamiya–Segbana–Kamba corridor.

Several Nigeria-Niger crossings were reopened after the 2019 shutdown, including llela and Maigatari, on December 16, 2020.

A different closure occurred in August 2023 after the military takeover in Niger Republic, when Nigeria implemented sanctions agreed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Following ECOWAS’ decision to lift sanctions, President Bola Tinubu directed the reopening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with Niger Republic in March 2024.

The Federal Government further reopened the Kamba corridor in Kebbi State in February 2026, restoring cross-border movement and trade along the route.

PremiumTimes reported that thousands of previously stranded trucks began moving following the reopening of the Kamba and Tsamiya border posts.

The situation along Nigeria’s border with Cameroon is more strongly shaped by insecurity.

Some crossings had been closed because of Boko Haram attacks even before Nigeria’s nationwide 2019 trade restrictions.

Research by the Institute for Security Studies shows that the Amchidé–Banki crossing reopened in 2019, while the Fotokol–Gambaru crossing reopened in 2021 following military operations and regional stabilisation efforts.

Reports emerged on November 3, 2025 that Chad had ordered heightened military restrictions or a lockdown along its border with Nigeria amid security concerns following reports of possible United States military action in the region.

However, the evidence surrounding that reported closure is less conclusive than the other border records.

BusinessDay’s report attributed much of the information to military/security sources and counterterrorism reporting. Crucially, the same report also quoted sources in Borno State disputing reports that the border had been completely shut and saying there was free movement across Nigeria-Chad border communities.

FactCheckAfrica found no sufficiently authoritative subsequent evidence establishing that the reported November 2025 restriction remains in force as a general closure of the Nigeria-Chad border.

CONCLUSION:

Available evidence does not support the framing that former Vice President Atiku made. Nigeria began reopening major crossings affected by the 2019 border policy in December 2020. Additional crossings followed in 2022, restrictions imposed against Niger Republic after the 2023 coup were lifted in March 2024, and strategic Kamba and Tsamiya corridors were reopened in February 2026.

There are still restrictions and heightened security controls at some crossings, particularly in areas affected by insurgency and banditry. But controlled or restricted border operations are not the same as a blanket closure of Nigeria’s land borders.

Therefore, Atiku’s claim conflates earlier nationwide trade restrictions, subsequent security-related closures and present-day border controls into a continuing general closure.