PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has directed the opening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with the Republic of Niger and the lifting of other sanctions against the country with immediate effect.

This is contained in a statement issued by the president on his X handle on Wednesday, March 13.

He said the presidential directive was in compliance with the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government at its extraordinary summit on February 24, 2024, in Abuja.

In August 2023, Nigeria announced the closure of land borders connecting the country to Niger Republic. This move was in compliance with the decision of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to suspend trading between Niger and member states until further notice.

The ECOWAS, under the leadership of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, imposed sanctions on Niger Republic following a military coup, which ousted democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and ushered in Omar Tchiani, who was previously the head of the presidential guards.

The Community also imposed a no-flight zone on Niger Republic, cut off electricity supply from member-states, mobilised international support for the implementation of the provisions of the ECOWAS communique and reactivated the border drilling exercise.

In a joint statement on Monday, Mali and Burkina Faso backed the actions of the Nigerien military and threatened ECOWAS with war.

However, following the recent development by the ECOWAS on the directive of lifting economic sanctions on Niger, Mali and Burkina-Faso with immediate effect, Tinubu said Nigeria’s land and air borders with Niger are now opened.

The president also reversed the following sanctions:

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• Suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between Nigeria and Niger, as well as freeze of all service transactions, including utility services and electricity to Niger Republic.
• Freeze of assets of the Republic of Niger in ECOWAS Central Banks and freeze of assets of the Republic of Niger, state enterprises, and parastatals in commercial banks.
• Suspension of Niger from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions, particularly EBID and BOAD.
• Travel bans on government officials and their family members.                                                                                                                                                              Tinubu said he has also approved the lifting of financial and economic sanctions against the Republic of Guinea. 

Mustapha USMAN

Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M