Sen. Adamu Wants Border With Niger Reopened, Says Closure Affects Nigerian Economy

The Senator representing Kebbi Central, Senator Adamu Aliero, has expressed concern over the closure of the land border between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger, saying the blockade has had a damaging impact on Nigeria’s economy.

Aliero stated this in an interview with Arise Television on Tuesday.

The two-term governor of Kebbi State described the closure of the border under the Economic Community of West African States directive as unnecessary.

He called on the authorities to reverse the directive.

The former governor said federal lawmakers from the affected states in the North had met and called on the federal government to open the border for business activities.

Aliero said, “Our people living in the communities that shared the border with Niger are the ones suffering and bearing the brunt.

“If you go to the border today, you will see over a thousand trucks coming back to the country with goods from different countries but are stuck in the border because of this ECOWAS sanction.

“Even the agreement we had with the country on the dredging of dam supplying our electricity has been breached when the government decided to cut off the light supply to the Niger Republic.”

According to Aliero, most other countries did not observe sanctions as outlined by ECOWAS on the Niger Republic.

He said most of the sanctions, especially the closure of the border and cutting off electricity supply to the country, only had negative effects on ordinary citizens and not the military junta, as was expected.

Recall that ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger after rebel elite soldiers on July 26 overthrew Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president.

The 15-member West African bloc, ECOWAS, banned trade with Niger and threatened military action to restore democracy.