The city of Gaya plays a very important role in the economic life of Niger. Located in the Dosso region,the south-west of the country, Gaya is also a border town. It directly borders the city of Malanville,border town of Benin. The line that separates the two cities is materialised on the ground by a bridge overlooking the Niger River. Since the advent of the military in power in Niamey in July 2023, and the sanctions of the Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) that followed, the movement of people and goods has stopped due to border closures. Since then, volunteers  have committed themselves to finding ways around through the use of canoes to transport people and goods. Dialogue Migration reached by phone Fadel Alou, a journalist and editor-in-chief of Faraha de Gaya radio, to learn more about these new initiatives to circumvent border closure.

The bridge that connects Malanville to Gaya plays a very important role in transporting people and goods to Niger or Benin. With the coup d’état in Niger and given ECOWAS sanctions that include the closure of air and land borders between Niger and the rest of the countries in the zone, several commercial products have been blocked in the city of Malanville and also in Gaya. Similarly, people who wish to travel to either Benin or Niger are blocked by the closure of the border. This axis that connects Niger and Benin is one of the most used routes by people who want to go to the Maghreb or European countries. This flow is not unidirectional, it also serves as a corridor for Nigerien migrants who wish to go to the countries of the Gulf of Guinea.

Boatmen as an alternative for the free movement of people and goods

ECOWAS sanctions’ impact on economic activities in the city of Gaya and precisely at the level of the city’s lively weekly Tuesday market led to boats being used as an alternative for the movement of people and goods. In the aftermath of the coup, only few people managed to frequent the market because the border with Benin was closed. “Long before the borders closed, boatmen used to transport goods on both sides of the river. But, these products were essentially bags of coal,” Fadel Alou, said journalist and editor-in-chief of Gaya’s Faraha radio. It is this experience that the boatmen of Benin and Niger have used to replace the large trucks and buses traditionally accustomed to transporting people and goods. Every day, these canoes that leave the banks of the river carry women, men and their belongings. Some canoes make several trips back and forth during the day. “Some boatmen make about two to three round trips a day, and it’s just a minimum,” says Fadel Alou.

Transport via canoes,  an economic opportunity

This activity with canoes that is gaining ground and seems to be profitable attracts several candidates. Piers and landing stages are multiplying on both sides of the banks of the river. The price “to transport from one side to another of the two shores varies from 2000 FCFA to 3000 FCFA” says Fadel Alou, who adds that “the price can exceed these announced figures if the customer carries a lot of luggage.”  There are more and more canoes on the piers. “There are Kamba boatmen in Nigeria who come to try their luck in this activity, because it represents an economic opportunity to seize,” he continues.

A business that is attracting the attention of the Niger authorities 

In view of the importance of the activity of the boatmen, the Nigerien authorities have taken measures to properly organise and control the activity. Checkpoints have been erected at the piers. “The local authorities have created a mechanism composed of customs officers, police and gendarmes to control people disembarking from canoes and their belongings,” says Fadel Alou.In an order dated August 25, 2023, the new governor of the Dosso region prohibited navigation on the river on the Nigerien side from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. without specifying the reasons for this measure. However, several analysts link this to security motivations. As a result, the boatmen have up to 18 hours to carry out their activities.