Local businesses in northern Nigeria feel the sting of regional sanctions against neighboring Niger

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A decision by a bloc of West African nations to shut down their borders with Niger as a way of sanctioning its coup plotters is harming local businesses in northern Nigeria, where a cross-border economy has boomed for years. Niger accounts for 75% of the total value of exports from Nigeria’s cross-border informal trade. That’s according to a study by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In Nigeria’s northwestern Katsina state, the border’s closure and restricted regional traffic has stranded dozens of trucks for days, most of them loaded with food items and other perishable goods. Residents say prices of livestock, animal products and some commodities usually supplied from the city of Maradi in Niger have increased.