TheCable

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says the closure of the country’s borders with the Republic of Niger is not a declaration of war between the two West African allies, contrary to speculations.

Adewale Adeniyi, NCS acting comptroller-general, spoke on Friday while addressing the Illela border community in Sokoto state.

Earlier, the service announced the closure of all land borders linking Nigeria with the Niger Republic following the coup that took place in the country.

The service had said the decision for the total blockage of the borders was to comply with the directive of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) to suspend the movement of cargo until further notice.

Adeniyi, who was at the Illela border to ascertain the level of compliance, clarified that what is happening in Nigeria is also being carried out in other states of West Africa that share borders with the Niger Republic.

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

“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 the intention of government is to ensure that we leverage perfectly on the nexus between trade and security.

He said with the situation in Niger, trading activities can not thrive.

“This development informed the ECOWAS heads of states’ decision to cease trade with our neighbours, the Republic of Niger,” he said.

“However, there are other measures that are ongoing, the diplomatic front, there are engagements 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.”

On Wednesday, Niger reopened its land borders and airspace to Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Libya, and Chad.

While Mali and Burkina Faso are members of ECOWAS, and under military rule, they had taken sides with the coup leaders in Niger.