The federal government says it is strengthening cross-border cooperation with the Niger Republic, despite the country’s exit from ECOWAS, along with Mali and Burkina Faso.

Adamu Adaji, the director-general of the National Boundary Commission (NBC), stated this on Friday in Abuja while assessing the impact of President Bola Tinubu’s administration after two years in office.

Mr Adaji said the NBC was cooperating with Niger authorities to make the international boundaries visible.

He said the cross-border cooperation was critical because the border communities were affected by boundary delimitation on both sides.

“Governments and politics may be different from the actual people on the ground in terms of boundaries and how they relate with their neighbours.

“We try to encourage that cooperation, and they have been cooperating. What we’re doing is to make sure that we make the boundary very visible for the people on both sides.

“We have instances where the boundaries straddle some communities, cutting the community into two – part in Nigeria, part in Niger. So, we encourage them to cooperate and live peacefully, and they have been living peacefully,” he said.

Mr Adaji explained that geography has brought the people together, and they have coexisted economically and socially.

According to him, the cooperation may encourage Niger to consider returning to the ECOWAS fold, as the regional bloc is making provisions to provide facilities to encourage cross-border cooperation.

“I think it will be better if they are within the ECOWAS fold,” said Mr Adaji. “For now, we’re cooperating in terms of getting the boundary properly defined for the people to understand and know where they are.”

(NAN)