Nigeria’s continued border closure is causing a rift among members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) who have been working round the clock since last month to find solutions to the unilateral border closure by Nigeria.
ECOWAS’ fifteen member countries met on Saturday in Ouagadougou to find what they described as “realistic solutions” in the “short term”.
“The closure of Nigeria’s land borders to goods is very worrying because it affects the very foundations of our community, namely the free movement of people and goods,” said Nigerien Lieutenant General Salou Djibo.
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“This meeting according to Salou Djibo must propose realistic and applicable solutions in the short term,” he said at the opening of the meeting which brings together ECOWAS foreign affairs and trade ministers.
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“The unilateral closure of borders goes against all the trade and free movement treaties signed by Nigeria within the framework of the Economic Community of West African States.’‘
Also, it has led to a lot of trust challenges within the sub regional community costing businesses across the region so much in money and production losses since Nigeria shut down its borders in August 2019.
Nigeria had noted that it wanted to put an end to smuggling, particularly of frozen rice or chicken from Benin, which crosses the porous border illegally.
The border closure also cast a shadow over a landmark free trade agreement signed by 54 of Africa’s 55 countries, an initiative hailed as a crucial step towards removing the continent’s trade barriers.
“These are difficult times for our community. There is danger in the rest (because) our gains are undermined by the closure of land borders to goods between Niger, Nigeria and Benin for six months now, (which) has a negative impact on the volume of inter-community trade for the years 2019 and 2020,” said the chairman of the ECOWAS commission, Ivorian Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.
“This closure has profound repercussions on trade, economic operators, not forgetting consumers who today have doubts about our community,” he added, referring to “catastrophic financial consequences”.
Nigeria’s 200 million inhabitants offer a very attractive market for producers in all its neighbouring countries.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry