Buhari open border: 'Seme border dey closed' - residents react to President Buhari order to open all land borders
On Wednesday 16 December, di Nigeria goment declare open four of di kontri land borders, but wen BBC Pidgin visit one of di borders, we discover anoda tin.
We torchlight say Seme Border, near di outskirts of Lagos still dey closed, even though di president Muhammadu Buhari mention am as part of di borders wey go re-open. On Thursday, our reporter see as officers of di Nigeria immigration Service dey pursue pipo wey wan pass through di border into di neighbouring Benin republic. Di officers too no gree make pipo pass from Benin into Nigeria except for pipo wey get special pass. Upon inquiry some officers wey no wan make we mention dia name say dem never get order from di top to open di border, say na until dem get di order dem go fit allow pipo to pass freely. However, some pipo still dey cross over di border of di two kontris through di back route, wey dey cost as as much as 3000 Naira ($8) for motorcycle trip. Afta di presidential announcement videos comot for social media wey show some residents dey rejoice say goment don open di border, but wen we sama dem questions, dem confirm say true true di officers neva begin allow dem pass through di border. Some of di residents express happiness say goment wan open di border, say plenti of dem don suffer well since goment close di border as di closure follow cripple dia businesses. Eze wey be driver for di area say "Nigeria goment no gain anything for di border wey dem close, now Benin republic moni don get better value dan Nigeria moni sake of di closure". BBC pidgin observe say dozens of security checkpoints dey for di road from Lagos to di border town and some of di officers dey extort commuters for di road. Di road from Lagos main town to Badagry, di nearest town to di border, dey in a very bad shape as person go spend over four hours for journey wey suppose take two hours or less. Nigeria goment bin close di kontri border wit some kontri for August 2019 to control wetin dem say na illegal importation of agricultural goods, drugs and weapons.