Personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service are on alert to stop any Nigerien from crossing into Nigeria through official or unofficial borders, PremiumTimes reports.
Personnel of the service have also been ordered to stop Nigerians from going into Niger Republic through the Katsina border with Niger Republic as part of the Service’s efforts to impose an ECOWAS sanction against the military junta in Niger Republic.
“Nigerians should stay at home and not attempt to go to the Niger Republic until the embargo is lifted. And we are determined to return any Nigerien we catch who is planning to come to this country,” Mustapha Sani, the Immigration comptroller in charge of Special Border Command told journalists in Jibia, Katsina State on Thursday.
Jibia is one of the four areas in Katsina State sharing an expansive border with the Niger Republic. The others are Kaita, Mai’Adua and Zango.
Seven northern Nigeria states, including Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina Jigawa, Yobe and Borno share a 1,608 kilometres long border with five regions in the Niger Republic and the immigration official said all commands have been put on alert to ensure compliance with the border closure order.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is sanctioning Niger Republic after presidential guards toppled Mohamed Bazoum and announced Abdrahmane Tchiani as the new president.
Mr Sani said people of the two countries, especially on the border, share a lot of identities like culture and religion but it would not be a reason to disrespect the government’s order of border closure.
“We have already put our officers on alert and we have already deployed some to go and man the orthodox routes through which some of the foreigners use to enter into Nigeria and from what we have on the ground, we know it will be impossible for them to enter into Nigeria.
“We have already stationed our officers at strategic places for stop and search as usual,” he said.
The comptroller said since the special border command received a signal that all borders with the Niger Republic should remain closed, officers of the command have been active in enforcing the sanction.
Residents of major cities like Niamey, Maradi and Zinder lamented the lack of electricity supply which was cut off by Nigeria last week as part of the sanctions.
Expert speaks on sanctions
An economist and university lecturer, Bashir Achida, said the coup in the Niger Republic and the subsequent ECOWAS sanctions would hurt the economic and social activities of residents of the border communities.
“Nigeria and Niger have a long-standing socio-economic and political relationship so a coup like the one we have now is detrimental to businesses, political and other engagements. For us in the northern part of the country, you’ll see that residents of these communities (border) are always engaged in businesses going in and out of the countries.
“With the order on border closure, you’ll see that these people are cut off from both activities. The two countries from this side rely heavily on each other for the supply of goods and services required,” Mr Achida said.
Mr Achida, a senior lecturer at the Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University in Sokoto, said residents of border communities in Illela (Sokoto/Nigeria) and Konni (Tahou/Niger) are a clear example of booming business activities between the two countries.
“This is the major route (Illela – Konni border) for states like Sokoto, Kebbi and even Zamfara to convey goods like onions, garlic and other goods to Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. They also bring back other commodities. So, this will lead to a loss of millions of Naira. This is really a setback to our relationship and economic activities in the two countries,” he said.
