Niger and Nigeria will likely continue to enforce flight restrictions on each other as the political strains between the two west African countries widens.
Niamey’s aviation authority has said, in an official memo, that the country’s airspace is open to all commercial flights “except for Nigerian flights to or from Nigeria.” But the ban does not apply to commercial flights that transit Nigerien airspace without landing in the country.
The Niger junta’s decision mirrors a similar measure by the Nigerian government. Abuja placed a ban on commercial flights from Niger overflying Nigeria and vice versa, and prohibits flights from any country from transiting Nigerian airspace en route to Niger.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) said the action was part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) measures to compel General Abdourahamane Tchiani to reinstate Mohamed Bazoum as the president of Niger.
Nigeria, which supplies more than 70 percent of Niger’s electricity, also cut it off and suspended financial transactions with the country after the July 26, 2023, coup. But the stringent sanctions have had little or no impact on the ambition of the military government, which has consolidated its hold on power.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
