The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has appealed to the Heads of State and Government in the region to lift the sanctions imposed on Niger Republic.

The Head of States of ECOWAS, led by then newly sworn-in Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, had last July imposed sanctions on Niger Republic.

The sanctions followed the overthrow of democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum in a military coup led by erstwhile Presidential Guard Commander, General Abdourahamane Tchiani.

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, spoke of the need to lift the sanctions while speaking with journalists on Wednesday after the opening session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.

The lawmaker declared that some states in Nigeria, about seven of them bordering Niger Republic, are at the receiving end of the sanctions.

“Children and women have been exposed to untold hardship,” the Borno lawmaker said.

He explained that since the sanctions were imposed, nothing meaningful has been done in resolving the issue.

“We are appealing to ECOWAS states to lift the sanction and open the closed border between Niger and Nigeria because it is the poor that are suffering. Let me say this is a collective decision by concerned citizens.”