I once thought about the possibility of an open border when I travelled to a neighboring country. I travelled by road and the journey was unbelievably punishing. Why? Because the borders were closed and the patrols made it their duty to frustrate our lives. From one checkpoint to the other, we were stopped, searched like criminals, and the bus driver extorted for silly reasons. Eventually, we made it into the country, into a different way of life.
In the taxi, I talked to a man who happens to be from my country but has been living in the country we were now in for 25 years. He shared his wonderful experiences, but made a very important point : since the border was closed, his business suffered. Now, the border used to be opened and that allowed for easier flow of business. Since both governments agreed to close the border, it changed everything.
Open borders have so many advantages, but I fear the disadvantages may far outweigh the benefits. First, the advantages.
Cotonou depended a lot on Nigeria for business purposes. Due to the huge population of Nigeria, producers made their products, crossed the open border to Lagos - a city of about 20 million people - and sold to this huge market. They made their money in Naira, travelled back home, converted it to CFA franc (as of today, 1 Naira = 1.30 CFA franc) and lived like kings. That was when the borders were opened.
In like manner, Nigeria benefited a lot from Cotonou especially in the automobile business. Cheap, pre-owned vehicles used to be readily available in Cotonou. Due to the open borders, Nigerians travel to Cotonou, buy those pre-owned vehicles, and drive them back to Nigeria in one piece. Car retailers were making money, car users were getting value for money. That all ended once borders were closed. Now, vehicles from Cotonou cost twice as much as they used to when borders were opened because of the fees one has to pay to get vehicles across borders.
Another advantage of open borders is in the sharing of resources. Thousands of prospective graduate students from Africa and Asia apply for admission into schools in the Americas and Europe on a yearly basis. That's simply because those two continents have outstanding resources across all sectors. That's not to condemn the resources available in other places, but the truth still remains that those continents are the hotspot for graduate students. However, about 90% of applicants get rejected.
A couple of my friends got admission to some schools in the US but were turned back by the Visa Officer simply because they couldn't convince the VO. With open borders, no one gets to fast and pray for days just to get a Visa to travel to a country of interest. With open borders, no one gets scammed by some silly travel agents who exploit - on a daily basis - the desperation and wishes of people to travel to another country in search of greener pastures. Those criminal elements have made more money from people trying to travel to Canada than Canada ever made from visa fees.
Another angle I will briefly exploit is the "people" angle. There is so much misinformation in the world. A couple white folks still think Africa is some desert occupied by monkeys and half-naked barbarians stuck in the stone age; a lot of black dudes believe all whites are privileged racist who built their wealth and civilization on the back of their forefathers. With open borders, misinformation gets wiped away. Whites travel down to Africa and come to the realization the continent is criminally underrated, blacks go to several white countries and realize not all whites are racist - although some silly ones with supremacy mentality remain racist, but not all!
The negatives?
"I've never been to the United States before, but from what I've read on the news and seen in movies it looks like a lot of people out there are trying to hurt the country."
24 was the series that got me in love with crime and detective movies. I've seen a couple since then, Designated Survivor, Night Agent, and the list goes on. One thing that's glaring from these is that there are so many people out there with many reasons to hurt a country, especially the powerful ones. A lot of these terrorists are bankrolled by influential individuals. Some of the terrorists are nabbed at the border, some more deadly ones couldn't cross because of closed borders. Imagine what would happen if those with bad intentions can enter a country of interest freely without restrictions? A lot will go wrong. I could go on and on about the negatives, but the thought of it scares me already. Whatever positives that can be gained from open borders will get wiped away in a singular terrorist attack. I'll just stop here!
Image Source 1: https://unsplash.com/photos/NcGDLFpvGV0
Image Source 2: https://unsplash.com/photos/0NWnW2jgY6k
