ILLELA, Nigeria – Scores of Nigerian trailer drivers, stranded at the Republic of Niger-Nigeria border, are issuing desperate appeals to President Bola Tinubu’s administration for permission to re-enter their homeland and reunite with their families.
Caught in the lurch by the sudden border closure, many drivers were trapped outside Nigeria, cut off from their families and livelihoods.
An array of trailers now clog the border post at Illela, a visual testament to the humanitarian crisis unfolding.
“After an average week stuck in this border purgatory, we’re just tired,” says Jimoh Abass, on Saturday, August 5, 2023, one of the drivers marooned at the border. Abass, returning from Yemen in Niger Republic, is one of many who journeyed from Lagos to Niger to deliver goods, only to be turned away by their own country’s security agents at the border.
“If we could dodge the security agents in Niger, where the real problems lie, why can’t we enter our own country?” Abass said, his frustration evident. He makes a heartfelt appeal to President Tinubu, asking him to intervene and open the borders before they “die of hunger.”
The border area, currently serving as an involuntary temporary home for these drivers, is a place they refer to as ‘no man’s land,’ stuck between Niger and Nigeria, without security or aid. Abass decries the rampant insecurity and widespread hunger, pleading with the federal government for assistance.
Nuradeen Lawal, another stranded driver returning from Niamey, Niger’s capital, raises his voice for public support.
In addition to financial hardships, Lawal points to security as a major concern that needs to be addressed by Nigerian authorities.
Sending a poignant ‘save our souls’ message to President Bola Tinubu, Lawal said, “We are Nigerians doing our legal duty as drivers. For God’s sake, we should not be treated like criminals or aliens in our own country.”
As the drivers wait in limbo, they clutch onto their legal papers that once guaranteed their free movement, now worthless in the face of the border closure.
They seek nothing more than a safe return home, a basic right that now seems like a distant dream.
Their plea echoes across the ‘no man’s land,’ reverberating with a hope that their desperate situation reaches the ears of their president and spurs him into action.
