The decision by a bloc of West African nations to shut down their borders with the Niger Republic has continued to affect businesses in Northern Nigeria.
The impact is now being felt at the Dawanau International Grains Market in Kano State, where cross-border economic trade has boomed for years.
It’s been months since the Niger army took over the mantle of leadership in the country through a coup.
The crisis has since affected social and economic activities within and outside Niger.
The impact of sanctions imposed by ECOWAS has spread to border communities and markets in states that either share a border with Niger or are a few miles away from the junta-led country.
Dawanau International Grains Market has over the years been a major dealer in grains.
The market was originally established to serve as a major source of grains for Kano and a storage centre for many farm products.
The market has grown to international status, supplying grains and other cash crops to many states in Nigeria and across several countries in West Africa.
But businesses are now crumbling as a result of the decision by a bloc of West African countries to shut down their borders with Niger as a way of sanctioning the junta.
Traders are not finding the decision funny here.
Sunusi Dahiru is one of the labourers in the market.
His business of loading trucks has been hard hit due to a lack of activity in the market.
He sits on his wheelbarrow, and his posture, placing his right hand for hours on his cheek, depicts despair as he tries to figure out how to survive.
The situation here is made grimmer by the sight of dozens of trucks, most of them loaded with food items and other perishable goods, who have remained stranded for weeks.
Ibrahim Usman loaded his truck more than fifteen days ago, and his despair has grown daily as he is unable to dispatch his goods to markets beyond the Niger border.
Usman and exporters here call on the authorities to wade in and provide a lasting solution to the Niger crisis.
Muttaka Isah is the President of Dawanau International Market, and he joins the traders to lament the effect of the Niger crisis on the market.
Nigerian authorities are enforcing border restrictions, but the measure has not only impacted on traffic to most of the surrounding Nigerien border communities, but also on truck drivers who are not heading to Niger but to other border towns in Nigeria.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, issued a one-week ultimatum to the military junta in the Niger Republic to restore ousted President Bazoum to power or face being forced out.
Despite the fact that the one-week deadline has passed, the leaders of the military junta have remained steadfast and vowed that any attempt to use force against them will be met with the same force.
Traders at the Dawanau Market and many others are hopeful that the crisis will end sooner and the normal hustle and bustle of business activities will return.
Related posts:
Christmas celebration : Ondo traders lament poor patronage
Naira redesign: Gov Bello tours Minna market as traders bemoan low patronage
NCC laments low patronage of DND service
Ramadan: Scanty markets, low patronage
Importation of frozen foods : Nigerian poultry farmers complain of low patronage
Government’s low patronage condemned by indigenous operators
Traders Count Losses As ECOWAS Sanctions on Niger Bites
Traders lament as fire destroys Goods worth millions of naira in Ibadan
