Despite Sanctions Essential Goods still entering Niger - Residents

Nigeria’s Borders COMPLETELY Porous, sanctions of no effect.

President Bola Tinubu had ealier directed the Nigeria Customs Service to shut down the Ilela border station and place an embargo on any cargo moving from any Nigerian border to Niger to avoid the smuggling of arms and ammunition and as a direct response to the coup in Niger.

A decision by a bloc of West African nations to shut down their borders with Niger as a way of sanctioning its coup plotters has been revealed to have little or no impact on local businesses in northern Nigeria and Niger, where a cross-border economy has boomed for years. Within a few days of the sanctions there was a serious out cry from residents in Niger but calm and succor is beginning to surface as traders have devised other routes to smuggle essential goods into Niger.

Niger accounts for 75% of the total value of exports from Nigeria’s cross-border informal trade, according to a study by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank’s latest report in 2016 valued goods traded across the border with Niger at 828 billion naira ($934 million) a year.

One resident told our reporters in Hausa “Allah ya fi su” meaning God is greater than them. Most residents of Niger have ancestral lineage with their relatives in Nigeria. “Goods are not in short supply, maybe in the capital but here in the border towns we are living our lives normally, we support the military take over, our country has suffered in the hand of this greedy politicians maybe the military can give us the required change. eventually enough will reach the capital, the sanctions has no effect.”