After fifteen months of border closures, the Nigerian government decided to reopen them. The decision, taken at the last Council of Ministers, states that it is thanks to the control of Covid-19 in the country. A decision praised by the country’s economic actors.
as reported from Niamey, Moussa Kaka
It is the control and mastery of Covid-19 through a major vaccination campaign that officially allowed this reopening. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Moussa Sidi, welcomes this decision: “It is a great pleasure for us to see these borders open and enable mobility for people and especially for our economic space”.
One of the most affected sectors is passenger transport by land. For 72 hours, activities have resumed. “Fifteen months without joining the sub-regional capitals – we go as far as Dakar, as far as Nouakchott – this opening will allow us to take a deep breath,” points out Mohamed Ben Dahan of the Modern Guard Employers’ Organization.
Under a hangar from one of the companies, Souleymane Abdou, waiting for his bus to Abidjan. “With the reopening of the borders, business will go well with the neighboring countries; that’s good, thank goodness. ”
For more than a year, the situation has been unsustainable in the tourism and hotel sector. “A good clientele in this sector comes from neighboring countries, so this is excellent news, it started to become unsustainable,” emphasizes the general secretary of the association Nawal Kader.
With this reopening, the government hopes to revive the country’s economic activities.
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