The Area Controller of Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Comptroller Kamal Mohammed, has assured stakeholders at Illela border of reopening of the gateway.
During a working visit, Mohammed said with the lifting of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sanctions on Niger Republic and subsequent restoration of power supply to the landlocked nation, the reopening would follow sooner.
THIS is even as the military-ruled West African states of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso plan to set up a joint force to fight Islamist terrorist groups.
The force should be “ready for action as soon as possible,” Niger’s Chief of Staff, Gen Moussa Salaou Barmou, said during a televised address on Wednesday night.
The aim is to work together “to overcome the security challenges facing the three countries,” the general added.
The three countries formed a joint defence outfit – Alliance of Sahel States (AES) –last September.
Barmou said the new task force would be integrated into the AES. He, however, did not provide details.
The trio are located in the Sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara and have been plagued for years by Islamist terrorist groups that carry out bloody attacks on civilians and increasingly control territories.
