The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has encouraged the federal government and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to investigate reopening the borders between Nigeria and Nigerien in order to increase trade between the two countries.
Professor Tukur Muhammad Baba, the ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, lamented in a statement how the continuous border closures have hurt a number of small-scale businesses between the two countries, including those that provide food, medicine, fuel, and energy.
The statement goes on to say: “In response to the June 2023 military coup (in Niger), Nigeria and other ECOWAS member countries have maintained a regime of economic sanctions, along with the threat of military intervention, to pressurise the military regime in Niger into restoring the erstwhile civilian government of Mohammed Bazoum.”
It stated that after increasing the threat on several occasions, ECOWAS has now shown a conditional willingness to hold talks with the Nigerien military leadership without removing the possibility of military action.
As a result, ACF was against any and all non-constitutional changes to the political system. ACF also preserves the sacredness of bilateral and multilateral agreements, especially those related to ECOWAS, an important organisation for which Nigeria made great efforts to ensure its founding.
The declaration criticised the creation of “arbitrary and artificial boundaries between our peoples” and mentioned the close historical socio-cultural, political, and economic ties that existed between the peoples of Nigeria and Niger before European colonisation.