Nigeria denied on Thursday its customs officials were behind a blockade at the border with Niger that has stopped all imports including food entering its impoverished, land-locked neighbour.
There has been no official explanation for the blockage, which has paralysed vehicles heading north to Niger but not those heading south into Nigeria, or prevented people from crossing the 1,500-km (940-mile) border between the two West African states.
Niger was suspended last month from the ECOWAS grouping of West African states for democratic failings, but its neighbours stopped short of measures such as trade embargoes.
“The Nigerian government has at no time ordered the closure of the border with Niger, a friend and brother,” Bature Lawal, Nigeria’s ambassador to Niger, told a news conference, adding that Nigeria would investigate what was going on.
Niger transport unions earlier accused Nigerian customs officials of complicity in the blockages.
“No truck transporting goods is leaving Nigeria to go to Niger. It is because of the customs men of that country (Nigeria),” said Sani Askia, spokesman for the truckers union in Zinder, a Niger border town.
Niger has huge uranium reserves and hopes to become the world’s No. 2 exporter of the metal that is refined into fuel for nuclear reactors. But for now it remains strapped for cash and it is likely to soon feel the pinch as it relies heavily on imports.
Niger imports cereals, cement, fertilisers, building materials and other manufactured goods from Nigeria. Beans and cattle are sent in the other direction.
Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja earlier this year defied widespread domestic and international criticism to extend his mandate for a further three years and boost his presidential powers.