Nigerians record their losses as their grief worsens at the border. The significant effects of the Niger coup crisis are causing NIGERIAN communities along the Nigeria-Niger border to experience increasing uncertainty and dread. The people’ lot has become one of sorrow and frustration as a result of the closed border and the disruption of essential services.
The situation is still dire as the misery brought on by the border shutdown has continued for weeks and months with no sign of stopping. Since the coup shook the nation a few weeks ago, supplies of food, water, and energy have run out, and unfettered trade in products and services has also ceased between residents of frontier areas.
Sani Abubakar, the acting village head of Magama Community in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State, listed the complexity of the issue and its effects on border villages in an interview with Arewa Voice.
Abubakar highlighted how the crisis had negatively impacted communal life, notably in terms of the shortage and expensive costs of necessities imported from the other side of the border, in the middle of the intensifying political unrest.
Rice and spaghetti, which were historically inexpensive, have seen significant price increases in recent years, straining household budgets. According to Abubakar, a bag of rice that once cost about N31,000 now costs N45,000.
He emphasized that in addition to being expensive, securing such things has grown to be a difficult undertaking because of their rarity and limited availability.
Despite these challenges, there hasn’t been much unrest in the border towns to date because there hasn’t been much violence or relocation.
They continue to be in difficult situations for the time being, with economic stress taking the place of open hostilities. But the cost to the economy goes beyond price hikes.
tense international relations.
The cost to the economy goes beyond price increases. Abubakar illustrates how growing resentment has harmed the border villages’ formerly prosperous commercial relationship.
Jibia’s Magama Market, which is renowned for its frenzied activity, is still uncomfortably quiet, reflecting tense cross-border tensions.
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The complexity of the border situation, he said, has resulted in a decline in the number of Nigerien traders who were formerly a constant sight in the market. Similar harassment and heavy fines are meted out to Nigerians who cross the border to conduct business, especially those who do so on motorcycles.
Some have turned to unlawful means as a result, driving up living expenses and escalating the food crisis.
Other locals who emphasized the relationships that existed between the border communities of Nigeria and Niger prior to the coup shared Abubakar’s concerns.
The Magajin Zandam, Ambassador Gidado Suleiman Farfaru, emphasizes the entwined social fabric that binds these border communities while pointing out how the crisis has severely distorted the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Niger. He continues, “The people living along the borders are just like fathers and mothers to each other.
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