The mouthpiece of the North, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has called on the Nigerian authorities as well as members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reopen the Nigerien and Nigerian borders to allow economic activities to resume in earnest.
It said the continued closure of the borders has affected many small-scale businesses in the two countries, including food supply, medicine, petrol, electricity, etc.
This was contained in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of ACF, Professor Tukur Muhammad Baba and made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Friday
The statement noted that since July 2023, Nigeria and other ECOWAS member countries have maintained a regime of economic sanctions, along with a threat of military intervention, to pressurise the military regime in Niger into restoring the erstwhile civilian government of Mohammed Bazoum, in response to the June 2023 military coup (in Niger).
The statement said, After severally doubling down on the threat, ECOWAS recently announced a conditional willingness to dialogue with the Nigerien military regime without removing the threat of military action.
“ACF condemns any change of government, anywhere, through non-constitutional means. ACF also believes in the sanctity of bilateral or multilateral agreements, especially ECOWAS, an important organisation that Nigeria laboured hard to ensure was established.
However, pragmatism and circumspection were needed in this instance. The imposition of sanctions on Niger was ill-thought of, and the threat of military intervention against the Nigerien coupists remains at best quixotic.
ACF notes that Nigeria-Niger communities enjoy close historic socio-cultural, economic, and political ties that predate European colonialism and its imposition of arbitrary and artificial boundaries between our peoples.
In several communities across Nigeria’s seven (7) states along the Nigeria-Niger border, the international boundary cuts right through towns and villages, marked by narrow streets only. Nigeria and Niger have enjoyed friendly diplomatic and fraternal relationships, which had never soured until the ECOWAS sanctions.
Also, socio-economic and commercial ties have existed between Nigeria and Niger, ties that remain economic lifelines for many communities in Nigeria and Niger.
Also, ACF declared that at the humanitarian level, according to UN agencies, in the best of times, life has been very harsh, with existential conditions dire and challenging for women, children, the elderly, and the infirm in Niger.
Thus, the imposition of sanctions on food, medicine, electricity, etc. constitutes collective punishment for Niger’s most vulnerable people.
“Despite difficulties, the Niger Republic continues to forge ahead. Re-negotiating national interests in the mining of its uranium has meant the flow of unprecedented revenues, with its economy now set to become the world’s 4th fastest-growing economy by 2024, according to projections.
Niger has been forced into military alliances with countries under military regimes, i.e., Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea. Niger also enjoys measured support from its northern neighbour, Algeria.
“To boot, the negative impact of the sanctions has been affecting both Nigeria and Niger. For example, Niger has withdrawn its troops from the Multi-National Joint Task fighting Boko Haram terrorists in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring countries, and the economies of border communities have been crippled by serious hardship for people’s livelihoods.
Thus, from various angles, the current state of the Nigeria-Niger relationship defies logic, and for mutually enlightened self-interest, it is time for a reset in the Nigeria-Niger relationship.
ACF, therefore, joins the group of Northern Senators and other well-meaning Nigerians that continue to call for the re-opening of the Nigeria-Niger border, the restoration of electricity supply to the Nigerian Republic, and the lifting of sanctions on the supply of food, medicines, and other basic amenities to the vulnerable populations of the Niger Republic.
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