By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has opened the land and air borders with the Republic of Niger as it lifted other sanctions on the neighbouring country following a coup last year.
According to a statement from Mr Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday directed the opening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with the Republic of Niger with immediate effect.
This directive is in compliance with the decisions of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government at its extraordinary summit on February 24, 2024, in Abuja.
ECOWAS leaders had agreed to lift economic sanctions against the Republic of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.
Apart from lifting the sanctions imposed on the closure of land and air borders between Nigeria and Niger Republic, as well as the ECOWAS no-fly zone on all commercial flights to and from Niger Republic, the President also cancelled the suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between Nigeria and Niger, as well as a freeze of all service transactions, including utility services and electricity to Niger Republic.
Nigeria will also unfreeze assets of the Republic of Niger in ECOWAS Central Banks and freeze assets of the Republic of Niger, state enterprises, and parastatals in commercial banks.
The Nigerian government will also stop the embargo placed on Niger from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions, particularly ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (West African Development Bank, BOAD).
The lifting will also rescind travel bans on government officials and their family members.
President Tinubu has also approved the lifting of financial and economic sanctions against the Republic of Guinea.
Recently the Nigeria Customs Service assured stakeholders at the Illela border that all is set for the reopening of the border pending the last order from higher authorities following the lifting of some sanctions on neighbouring Niger Republic.
With this directive, trade can now resume in that corridor.
Modupe Gbadeyanka