Nigeria reopens borders with Niger after lifting ECOWAS sanctions – reports

Addis Ababa, March 13, 2024 (FBC) – Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has directed the opening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with Niger and the lifting of other sanctions against the neighbouring country ”with immediate effect, according to several reports.

This is in ”compliance with the decisions of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government at its extraordinary summit on February 24, 2024, in Abuja,” according to a statement by Tinubu’s spokesperson Chief Ajuri Ngelale on Wednesday.

Nigeria will also restore electricity to Niger and unfreeze Niger’s assets, according the statement.

West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, had imposed a raft of economic sanctions on Niger including closing borders with member-states and cutting financial dealings following a military coup in Niger in July 2023.