The Political Economy of Border Closure: Nigeria’s Border Closure From 2019-2021

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IX, September 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Political Economy of Border Closure: Nigeria’s Border Closure From 2019-2021

Abdullahi Abdulkarim and Abdulrazak Salisu Ibrahim
Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract: The closure of the border is not a new phenomenon in the global historical antecedent. Several reasons make countries of the world close their borders. It ranges from either to protect their citizens, either to protect their economy or to curtail any external threat or aggression from coming in. A state in international relations chooses her reason to close her borders with her neighbours despite the benefits. The Nigeria border closure in 2019 also was a result of the promotion of agricultural production, increase in local produced products consumption, and drastically stop smuggles of banned products by the Nigerian government from coming into the country through her land borders. Though, every administration in Nigeria does come with its policy of protecting the economy and providing a suitable environment for trade. This paper taking descriptive analysis as its approach, aimed at juxtaposing the political economy of the Nigerian border closure from 2019 to 2021. The paper also aimed at looking at whether the border closure has impacted Nigeria’s economy. In doing that, the paper adopted a theory of political economy of protectionism; which explained the reasons for the decision made by the Nigerian government to close its land borders. Data were gathered secondarily, which included; published articles, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, magazines, and the internet.

I. INTRODUCTION

States in the international arena are no more concerned with the military war or war over territory because of its destructive nature, also, considering the accepted leading system of governance which placed the power to control into the hands of the citizens, and not the authorities. That is; citizens vote and elect their leaders, and any leader that embezzles the citizens’ wealth in no way will be accepted to continue leading them. Contrary to this, countries rather compete in the international system to engulf and control the international market. This is among the reasons why countries keep and maintain their domestic industries to grow up, and compete with other foreign industries. Countries apply different trade policies to see that their level of production is excellent in the international arena compare to other countries. Every country is trying to have a favourable balance of trade than another, for that, among their policies is to close the border for either trading policy or other reasons.
Referring to Nigeria’s situation has not changed also. The economy of Nigeria is unprecedented in Africa because of its dynamic nature. It is theoretically the driver of development for the entire country, both as a hub of output and as a buyer of exports from neighboring countries. Given its size and position between Central and West Africa, the nation is at the center of the structural prosperity of the sub-Saharan region. Different policies are being applied regarding trade and local industries’ growth and development. The closing of the Nigerian border thus improved the government’s income as more tariffs were imposed on the enhanced number of products that entered the nation legally through ports, but on

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