The heads of state and government in the area have been urged by the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to remove the sanctions against the Niger Republic.
In July of last year, the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was then just inaugurated in, led the ECOWAS Head of States in imposing sanctions on the Niger Republic.
The military coup orchestrated by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the former commander of the Presidential Guard, resulted in the removal of democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and the imposition of sanctions.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday during the ECOWAS Parliament’s first session in Abuja, Senate Chief Whip Senator Ali Ndume discussed the necessity of lifting the sanctions.
The congressman said that the sanctions are being applied to a few states in Nigeria, about seven of which border the Niger Republic.
The congressman from Borno stated, “Women and children have been exposed to unimaginable hardship.”
He clarified that no significant progress has been made in resolving the matter since the penalties were put in place.
The impoverished are the ones who suffer, hence we are pleading with the ECOWAS governments to abolish the sanctions and reopen the blocked border between Niger and Nigeria. Let me clarify that concerned folks came to this conclusion collectively.
