Cross-Border Trade Policies and Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria: A Critique

The creation of artificial boundaries by colonialist generates desire for cross-border trade as potential instrument for economic integration and development in West Africa. There appears, however, contradictions in states’ policies in Africa which tend to overlook the inviolable boundaries compelling the need for economic interaction across the border for economic development. Paradoxically, neighboring states in Africa, more often than not, capitalize on the trade differences along the border to restrict economic interaction rather than promoting it. Nigeria has recently found itself in the dilemma of either outright trade protection for her economy or liberalizing its trade in the midst of smuggling-induced neighboring countries. Consequently on August 19,2019 President Muhammadu Buhari closed Nigeria's borders with Benin and Niger, declaring that the time had come to end rampant smuggling from those countries. This paper offers a critique of Nigeria’s Border trade policies over the years. The paper intends to challenge the predominant protectionist tendencies among the policy makers in the country. It argued that policy makers in Nigeria should first take measures to refurbish our national economy and then engage all the stakeholders in regional decision making and implementation mechanisms for proper regional trade policies. This will go a long way in providing a framework for intra-regional trade so that the regional environment will encourage more of Nigeria’s trade with its ECOWAS neighbours vis-à-vis sustainable economic growth in the region. If ECOWAS is to succeed in achieving sustainable development in the region, then Nigeria will be the biggest beneficiary; hence, her need to sacrifice more.