IMPLICATIONS OF BORDER CLOSURE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA: RICE FARMING IN GADAU COMMUNITY

ABSTRACT Nigeria which share boundaries with Benin, Niger and Cameroon closed all of its land borders in order to ensure total control over what comes into the country in October 2019. That was not a first instance action. It happened in 1984, 2003 and the banning of barley import in 1987, by the then Military Authority. The action boosted the government’s revenue as more duties were collected on the increased volume of goods that entered the country legally through the ports, but the fall in supply of rice led to food price inflation that impacted strongly negatively on Nigerian consumers. Also the closure was in breach of the protocol on the movement of goods, services and people established by the Economic Community of West African States. The action came just two months after the country signed the African Continental Free Trade Area, which aims to remove barriers to trade and promote the free flow of goods, service and people across the continent. Using Neo-mercantilism theoretical framework model, this paper argue that imposing import barriers such as border closure as Nigeria did during the periods mentioned, tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot. Since consumption is the sole end of production, consumers’ interests come before producers’ interests, especially those of relatively inefficient producers. Foreign exporters in the region experienced losses as countries within the ECOWAS sub region started rejecting Nigerian goods. The paper is of the opinion that Nigeria should take effective measures to diversify the economy away from overreliance on the oil sector and agriculture, by implementing more market-friendly measures that encourage foreign and local investment into other revenue- generating sectors, such as manufacturing, instead of resorting to border closure that hurts not only the country’s economy but that of other African countries, mostly in the ECOWAS.