A former governor of Kebbi State, Adamu Aliero, on Tuesday, said the continued closure of Nigerian borders with Niger Republic is causing enormous hardship for northern Nigerians.
Mr Aliero, who represents Kebbi Central District in the Senate, spoke to Arise News in its Morning Show programme as monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.
Nigeria had in August shut its borders with the French-speaking country after its soldiers overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum in a palace coup. Nigeria also cuts electricity supply to the country.
Residents of border communities and traders have bemoaned the implications of the border closure in several instances.
Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno states in northern Nigeria share a 1,608 kilometres border with Dosso, Tahou, Maradi, Zinder and Diffa regions of Niger.
Enormous hardship
Mr Aliero said the federal government should consider the interest of its citizens while making decisions.
“The foreign policy of any state or country should be a reflection of its domestic policy. Our domestic policy is to take care of the interests and welfare of Nigerians. The closure of borders has caused enormous hardship in Nigeria. Not only in Kano. It has affected people in Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, and even Kaduna, Yobe and Borno states.
“Legislators from these states have called on the government to open the border without any delay because it has caused a lot of economic distortions in these states. It has pushed a number of people into serious poverty, it has pushed a number of people into serious unemployment. It has caused serious friction between Niger and Nigeria. Niger and Nigeria have been strong allies from time immemorial and these two countries are inseparable,” the senator said.
He said Nigeria and Niger have “same people, same religion, same culture” before the incursion of the colonial masters into Africa.
“We don’t see any sense in enforcing this ECOWAS ban on trade between Nigeria and Niger. The closure of the border is unwarranted, and unnecessary and is causing a lot of hardship to our people. If you go to the border, you’ll see close to one thousand truckloads of various goods prevented from coming into Nigeria while some of them were not even from Niger but Mali, Burkina Faso. Businessmen are made to suffer a lot,” he said.
Mr Aliero, a retired Nigeria Customs Service officer, said by cutting off the electricity supply to Niger, the federal government has also breached a mutual relationship supported by an “international agreement”.
He said there was an understanding between the two countries for Nigeria to build the Kainji Dam along the River Niger, the neighbouring country should allow the free flow of water by not constructing another dam while Nigeria should provide electricity supply to the Niger Republic in return.
The border closure has been widely criticised especially in the northern part of the country as people in the far north see Niger Republic as a “brother country”.
In October last year, a member of the House of Representatives from Kano State, Aliyu Madaki, in a motion, called for the reopening of the border. He said the closure had inflicted hardship on “large markets”.
In December last year, the Association of Freight Forwarding Practitioners of Nigeria said businesses in the borders recorded a N13 billion loss every week due to the closure.
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