Boko Haram attacks slow down economic activities in Niger's Diffa

Mamane Noare runs a shop in Diffa, a regional capital in Niger, but he has been forced to close his shop owing to lack of customers.

Diffa has for several years been under constant threats of the Boko Haram insurgents who have been responsible for deadly attacks and suicide bombings.

The growing insecurity worries have scared off a part of the population out of the city, and the already fragile economy of the country is on the decline.

“All this is because of the Boko Haram. Before, there were clients and money. Money was constantly changing hands, between the naira and the CFA. But now, there is nothing because there are no people. There is no money, no job, no work, there is nothing at all,“Noare says.

Recently the Nigerien government introduced restrictive measures to prevent recurrent attacks by the jihadists in the region, but the restrictions have affected trading.

“There are roads that were closed owing to insecurity, because there are some markets that are in the Nigerian border, therefore there are products that can’t be transported from there to here especially pepper and fish because of insecurity,“says another business man. In March 2015, the government of Niger evacuated all 25,000 people from the Lake Chad Islands. A part of them sought refuge in Diffa, where fish and pepper trade, the major economic ventures around the lake were suspended.

#WFP to double aid to #Niger’s conflict-torn Diffa region https://t.co/W2BwwE40ECWFP_Media pic.twitter.com/zLpp9CqSZF

— UN News Centre (UN_News_Centre) June 15, 2016

Motorcycles, which Boko Haram were using to move around, were also banned in the area and a curfew imposed to regulate night movements.

AFP