Niger Coup: Jigawa residents count hardships, losses over sanctions

Nigeria’s President, Mr Tinubu, who is the chairman of ECOWAS, said he is committed to a peaceful restoration of constitutional democracy in Niger Republic rather than using force.

Muhammadu Ibrahim, a resident of a border community in Jigawa, never envisaged a diplomatic row between Niger and Niger Republic.

Mr Ibrahim, who is the chairman of Maigatari International Market, told PREMIUM TIMES that the situation has brought untold hardship to traders in the market and their clients from Niger.

Painting a grim picture of the effects of the sanctions on Niger by the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) on business activities in the market which is near Nigeria’s border with Niger, Mr Ibrahim said the sanctions have crippled businesses in the market.

Thmie ECOWAS imposed sanctions on the Niger Republic as part of measures to restore constitutional democracy after Abdourahamane Tchiani, the commander of Niger’s presidential guards, ousted the country’s constitutionally-elected government on 26 July.

The country’s democratically elected president, Mohammed Bazoum, is still being held by the junta.

The sanctions include the closure of land and air borders between ECOWAS countries and Niger; the suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS Member States and Niger. Nigeria also cut electricity supply to the country.

The sanctions were meant to mount pressure on the junta to return power to Mr Bazoum.

“The volume of trade between the two countries cannot be quantified, this situation requires several years to rectify. I cannot even contemplate Nigeria going to war with the Niger Republic because of the age-long ties between us, especially on the path of this area, (Maigatari).

“Going to war with the Niger Republic is something we cannot even think about and pray for because we are one people. Some of our wives and children live in Niger while some of theirs (people from Niger Republic) own wives and children also live and earn their living in Nigeria (Maigatari). All we can say is to appeal to our leaders, especially our President (Bola Tinubu) to consider resolving this crisis immediately so that business activities can return to their normal routines,” the market leader said.

Mohammed Danduwa

Maigatari hosts a weekly cattle market that attracts traders from across Nigeria, Niger Republic, Central Africa Republic, Mali, and other West and Central African countries.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited it was almost deserted.

At the border crossing in Maigatari all the gates remained closed.

Adverse effect on businesses

Muhammadu Danduwa, a cattle dealer, at Maigatari market who spoke on behalf of the cattle dealers, said the effect of the sanctions on cattle trading is so enormous because it is the primary business that thrives between the two countries with Maigatari local government playing the host for Nigeria.

Mr Danduwa said the border community was yet to recover from the economic hardship following the fuel subsidy removal by the Nigerian government when ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger Republic.

“Look at this place, if not for the sanction, you cannot come on a day like this (Friday) a day after the official market day and there will be space to pass through because you would have seen traders from different parts of Nigeria and beyond, who have come here to buy cattle.

“Before now, I would not be able to count the number of the heads of cattle that I would get from the market. But today there is nobody to even talk to because they’ve been stopped from coming to this town.

“Apart from cattle trading the people who farm for us come from the Niger Republic and that has stopped; as a result, if you go anywhere near our farms you will discover how the crops have been taken over by weeds.

Okada riders stranded at the Maitagari border community without passengers.

“We at the border community have been faced with two sanctions over the past three months. First was the ‘sanction’ of fuel subsidy removal and now the sanctions. Since the removal of the fuel subsidy we’ve been coping with hardship,” Mr Danduwa said.

The businessman also appealed to ECOWAS and the Nigerian government to reconsider the planned use of force to remove the junta.

“If war starts now, we are at the receiving end, we are at the border town. Where do we run to? We’ll be the first victims because our farmlands are in the same place with them and in some cases, our graveyards. So the best thing is for the government to find a way of resolving this conflict before it degenerates into open hostility,” Mr Danduwa said.

Lawali Muhammadu, who also sells cattle, said his liberty as a businessman had been restricted since the sanctions were imposed because he cannot travel to Niger.

Mr Muhammadu pleaded with the federal government to prevail on ECOWAS to reconsider the sanctions and use of force on the Niger Republic.

“As you can see, the economy is at its standstill, no cows and/or other commodities are being brought into and leaving this country, and I can tell you, this is a major source for concern to all well-meaning people because we depend on this kind of trade between the two countries to survive.

“This is moreso, as the common people of the two countries have nothing to do with this conflict. We do not have problems with the common people of the people of Niger, nor do they have with us, we have been coexisting peacefully with them for decades and we want to continue to live peacefully with them,” Mr Muhammadu said.

Jigawa State is one of the seven Nigerian states that share land borders with the Niger Republic.

We’re committed to peaceful resolution, not war – Presidency

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s President, Mr Tinubu, who is the chairman of the ECOWAS said he is committed to a peaceful restoration of constitutional democracy in the Niger Republic rather than using force.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu

One of the president’s media aides, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, said the president is mindful of the long-existing bond between Niger and Nigeria in his commitment as ECOWAS chairman to mediate in the crisis.

“Using Nigerian military force in Niger is just propaganda and fake news being pushed by some people, but the truth of the matter is that the issue in Niger is being mediated through diplomacy,” he said.

 

-Prim

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