President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria and individual families have close ties with Niger Republic.
He gave the example of himself who, he noted, had cousins in the West African countries.
He indicated such ties as part of the reasons his government is building a $1.8bn rail to Niger.
He said this during an interview on ‘Arise TV’ on Thursday.
He said: “If you recall, when I came, I went to Chad, I went to Niger, I went to Cameroon. Look at what happened with Boko Haram. If we were not in a good relationship with Niger, Chad and Cameroon, Boko Haram would have done worse things to us and you say I am going to Niger.
“I told you the border between us and Niger is 1, 500km. And Niger (sic). I spoke to one French man and I had to tell him this. He spoke nonsense and I told him look, in 1885, you sat down and drew lines (boundaries). I said I have first cousins in Niger. There are Kanuris, there are Hausas, there are Fulanis in Niger Republic just as there are Yorubas in Benin. You can’t absolutely cut them off.”
Buhari added that the new rail would help Nigeria to compete with Benin Republic which has cornered entrepot trade in the region.
