Posts falsely claim Nigerian president orders reopening of all land borders

“JUST IN: President Tinubu orders immediate reopening of all Nigeria borders,” reads a Facebook post published on June 6, 2023.

The post has since gathered over 900 likes and more than 400 comments.

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A screenshot showing the false post, taken on July 12, 2023

The claim also appeared elsewhere on Facebook and Twitter.

The previous administration under former president Muhammadu Buhari announced the partial shutting (archived here) of land borders on August 19, 2019.

According to Buhari, this was necessary to address trans-border security challenges including armed banditry, smuggling and proliferation of weapons (archived here).

Nigeria shares borders with Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Four land border posts were reopened in December 2020, while another four were reopened in April 2022 (archived here).

Commenters on the Facebook post hailed Tinubu for his purported decision.

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A screenshot showing comments on the false post, taken on July 12, 2023

However, the claim that Tinubu has ordered all borders to be reopened is false.

No border reopening

By July 14, 2023, Tinubu had made no such announcement.

After the false claim was shared on social media on June 6, 2023, Bamidele Makinde, the head of the Nigerian Customs Service in Ogun state in southwest Nigeria, was quoted in local newspapers on June 6, 2023, confirming that some border posts in Nigeria remained shut (archived here).

Then on July 11, 2023, during a briefing with journalists including an AFP reporter, the acting head of the Nigerian customs, Adewale Adeniyi, said there was no directive on the reopening of all borders (archived here).

“There are ongoing processes to review this situation … the processes are not yet completed and when borders are reopened it will not be subject of rumour again,” he said during the briefing.

AFP Fact Check has debunked previous claims on border reopenings here.