President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger is, in all likelihood, the most affected by the closure
of the Nigerian borders officially intervened since Tuesday, August 20, 2019. Champion of the ZLECAF,
President of ECOWAS with his "flagship project" of single currency the ECO , especially President of Niger, a
country which shares the longest border (1497km) and which maintains the most historical and economic ties
closer with Nigeria, this "border blockade", is undoubtedly a real disaster for him. <figure
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A complete border lockdown took place, less than two months only, after the “rebirth” in
Abuja July 2 of the " ECOWAS Single Currency ", ECO and the very successful holding in Niamey, from 7 to
July 8, of the AU summit which dedicated the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area
(ZLECAF). Also, we remember, the most striking and moving moment of this meeting
African at the top, was the highly acclaimed signing of Mahamadou Buhari of Nigeria.
Economic dictatorship?
African public opinion still does not understand this sudden reversal by the Nigerian authorities who, the day before
signed a document and the next day do the complete opposite. Many African observers see
through this brutal and unilateral closing of the Nigerian borders, a "beginning of failure", even a "
complete sabotage" of the two major pan-Africanist projects which fascinate African opinion in this
Moment: ZLECAF and ECO .
Lasting 28 days initially, initially to combat the smuggling of rice, vehicles
second-hand goods and food and manufacturing products, we know today, from the mouths of
Nigerian officials, that this closure will last "until neighboring countries accept and sign all the
protocol documents that will allow for the relaxation of borders…”. Thus spoke Hamed Ali, the
powerful Nigerian customs controller, during a visit to Maigatari, a border post with Niger, the
September 11, in front of elements of the "joint force" responsible for closing the border. And add in
comments deemed “contemptuous and threatening” by all the commentators: “We can no longer meet
arms watching such countries prosper to the detriment of ours! ". And as if that weren't enough, the
Nigeria is now threatening to step up a gear, by cutting off electricity in Niger, Benin and
Togo.
One thing is clear: The "African giant" has just struck a murderous uppercut at the ZLECAF and the ECO ,
projects where the African public nevertheless expected of him, a smarter and more innovative leadership.
Today, Nigeria imposes without blinking an economic dictatorship on its immediate neighbors, with all
what is cruel and abject in its implementation: Sudden, violent, unilateral and followed by a
nationalist rhetoric, support of its justification. First African economy, accounting for around 70%
of the GDP of the ECOWAS countries, by closing its borders, reinforced by ultra-high measures
protectionists, Nigeria is thus dealing a mortal blow to the "African dream".
Huge economic breakdown
On the ground, this closure, despite the optimism displayed in Abuja and Lagos, has led to a "
gigantic breakdown" of the West African economy. A beautiful orchestrated mess whose visible results
are at odds with the supposed expectations of its instigators. In Nigeria itself, flourishing markets
of the northern and western borders are almost empty, laying off technical unemployment and endangering millions
jobs, wiping out the entire border economy.

On the side of the Beninese and Nigerien borders, long lines of more than 1,000 trucks loaded with
goods, some of which are perishable, wait again and again. Customs of Benin and
Niger are registering the lowest revenues in their history, which will have a definite impact on the
public spending in these countries. Faced with so much economic disaster, the President of the Parliament of the
ECOWAS, Moustapha Cissé Lo, appealed for solidarity to the Nigerian authorities on September 16
from Monrovia, with a view to the immediate reopening of the borders. A cry in the desert that collides for
the moment to silence and the intransigence of Abuja.
All is not lost
Beyond the justifications given, African observers scrutinize particularly "behind the neck"
Nigerian officials to understand the real motivations of this regional mess. The Nigerian elite
has it, once again, allowed itself to be manipulated by the "external anti-pan-Africanist forces" for
mess up again in the African dream? Wonder many analysts who still have
memory the fratricidal rivalries between the “group of Monrovia” and that of Casablanca which overturned the
first meeting of the "United States of Africa" in which Nigeria had played a leading role.
Some more optimistic analysts, however, think that all is not lost for ZLECAF and ECO .
According to them, Nigeria simply wants to take the lead to regain leadership on these two
great pan-Africanist projects where it is precisely lagging behind. Aware of its strength in Africa and
particularly in West Africa, it rightly wants to redistribute the cards and impose its rules, before
that things don't completely escape him. For this, he does not hesitate to submit these two projects to which
he always adheres to a crash test to put everyone in their place.
For the time being, Niger, Benin and the other bordering countries have already yielded to the first
injunctions of their "great neighbour", by prohibiting the re-export of rice and other food products. The
borders still remain closed, however, as Nigeria expects its neighbors to sign a new
"protocol for the relaxation of borders"!
How long will this torture last, one wonders in Cotonou, Niamey, N'Djamena and Yaoundé? Wait an
see, we answer from Abuja!