The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Parliament has urged the Heads of State and Government in the region to lift the sanctions imposed on the Niger Republic.
The Head of State in ECOWAS had last July imposed sanctions on the Niger Republic to protest the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum by certain military officers led by erstwhile Presidential Guard Commander, General Abdourahamane Tchiani.
The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, who addressed journalists after the opening session of the parliament, declared that states in Nigeria—about seven of them bordering the Niger Republic—are at the receiving end of the sanctions.
Ndume stated, “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 sanction and open the closed 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.”
