Customs Confirms Closure Of All Borders With Niger Republic

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has announced that the boundaries with the Republic of Niger have been closed. Adewale Adeniyi, NCS acting comptroller-general, told the Illela border village in Sokoto state that the shutdown of the country’s border is not a declaration of war.

He claims that it is by the order of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has halted cargo transportation till further notice.

“My mission here is to restate the directives of President Bola Tinubu, who is not only the commander in chief of the federal republic of Nigeria but also the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” Adewale stated.

“As we are aware, one of the chairman’s responsibilities is to promote trade between members of ECOWAS. But we all know that trade cannot happen in an environment where there is no peace.

“So government intends to ensure that we leverage perfectly on the nexus between trade and security. This development informed the ECOWAS heads of state’s decision to cease trade with our neighbour, the Republic of Niger.

“However, there are other ongoing measures, the diplomatic front, engagements are going on with the authority of Niger to ensure the crisis is peacefully resolved.

“So what we are saying is that the closure will be a temporary thing until we have a final resolution of the crisis in Niger Republic. But certainly, we are not at war with the Niger Republic and no such declaration has been made.”