The ECOWAS Parliament has appealed to the Head of States and governments in the region to lift the sanctions imposed on Niger Republic.
The Heads of States in ECOWAS had last July imposed sanctions on Niger Republic to protest the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum by military officers led by a presidential guard commander, General Abdourahamane Tchiani.
According to the lawmakers under the platform of the Economic Community of West African States Parliament people are suffering as a result of the sanctions.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja at the ECOWAS Parliament after their session, the senator representing Borno South who is also the Senate Chief Whip in the 10th Assembly, Ali Ndume, said the ban should be lifted because even Nigerian citizens sharing borders with Niger are suffering.
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According to Ndume, about seven states in Nigeria bordering Niger Republic are at the receiving end of the sanctions.
‘Children and women have been exposed to untold hardship. No meaningful progress has been made in resolving this issue. We are appealing to ECOWAS states to lift the sanctions and open the border between Niger and Nigeria because it is the poor that are suffering. Let me say this is a collective decision by concerned citizens.
‘This press conference is simply an appeal to the ECOWAS Heads of State to consider the humanitarian situation and resolve the political impasse in Niger,’ Ndume added.
Recall that the military junta in Niger Republic had nominated Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe to act as a facilitator with the international community, including the West African bloc ECOWAS which has imposed sanctions since a coup.
General Salifou Mody, the minister of defence for Niger, met with Gnassingbe in the capital of Togo, Lome, and stated that the junta also wanted Togo to guarantee a deal for the withdrawal of French troops from the Sahel.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had earlier imposed tight financial sanctions and closed border trade with Niger in a bid to restore constitutional order.