Cameroun opens border markets to Nigeria

Camerounian President -  Paul Biya

Cameroon has cautiously reopened its border with Nigeria, launching business activity three years after the border was closed due to Boko Haram atrocities. The central African state says although business with Nigeria has been relaunched because Boko Haram attacks have fallen off during the past two years, all business persons traveling to Nigeria and back must be screened and escorted.

Hundreds of merchants have returned to the Limani border market in the Far North region in Cameroon. They are once again selling and buying with their Nigerian peers.

The secretary-general of Nigeria's Gambari Ngara market, Alhadji Bakari Balje, says they made the decision to reopen because Boko Haram attacks and atrocities have come to an end and they must restart business activity between the two countries.

"We thank God that things will be okay now because this place is a revenue generating place for both Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad," said Bakari Balje. "And we can't allow room for manipulation just because of that small remnant of Boko Haram to exercise their power over us. Boko Haram has already been defeated. What remains is only remnants of it."

Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the Far North region of Cameroon, says endemic poverty and misery in the region, whose population is mainly merchants and farmers, will be reduced. But, he says, movement of people and goods will be controlled.

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