The Republics of Benin and Niger have failed to meet the conditions for the reopening of Nigeria’s land borders. This was stated by Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture when he led a government delegation to the Seme border yesterday. Judging from the rate at which goods were smuggled and the number of illegal immigrants arrested over the last two weeks, the Minister noted that nothing was done by the neighboring countries to address the issues. The Federal Government announced five conditions that would make it reopen the borders after the closure. One of those conditions is that Nigeria would turn down imported goods repackaged by neighboring countries and bring to Nigeria. Another condition requires immigrants to identify themselves by providing a passport. These agreements were reached during a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Temporary Partial Closure of Land Borders in Abuja. Giving an account of the events that occurred during the border closure, the Information Minister said, “ Local consumption of fuel had dropped by 30% apparently due to the reduction in smuggling of petroleum products to neighboring countries. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/newscast-africa/support