Since 2019, commercial activity has resumed between northern Nigeria and Cameroon’s Far North. Better security along the corridor has allowed transporters to travel again and customs revenues are climbing.
A convoy of heavy trucks coming from Nigeria is parked on both sides of the sandy track that connects the economic giant to Cameroon. These convoys were once targets of Boko Haram attacks. The situation has improved, according to Aboubacar Mahamed, a Nigerian driver hauling sacks of millet toward N’Djamena, Chad. “From Nigeria, from Kano through Maiduguri, from Maiduguri to Banki to enter Kourgui, we had no problem, there is security from Kourgui to Amchidé and to Yagoua, no problem on the road.”
Despite the improved security, Aboubacar Mahamed says it is better to use the corridor at certain hours: “The Cameroonian soldiers of the Rapid Intervention Battalion are making great efforts, but for us, if the truck breaks down between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., it is better to spend the night in that village or in the bush,” he explains. “And around 6 a.m. the next morning, you can start; it is better to start moving from 6 a.m. and park around 5 p.m.”
A lifeline corridor for local communities
To reach Kourgui, these truckers pass through Limani, the main customs office on the Cameroonian side. Closed in 2014 because of Boko Haram’s abuses, it reopened seven years ago.
Célestin Delanga, a specialist on security issues in the Lake Chad basin at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), highlights the importance of renewed trade between the two countries: “Cameroon exports food crops and livestock to Nigeria, and imports fuel, textiles, electronics, and spare parts, among other goods,” the researcher lists. “This helps ensure economic security. The improvement in traffic, with the strengthening of the security apparatus along cross-border trade routes, is helping to revitalize commercial exchanges.”
Populations long battered by Boko Haram’s abuses are also reaping the benefits of this uptick in economic activity. For Célestin Delanga, cross-border trade now plays an essential role in a region facing new climate challenges. “Two years ago, floods destroyed crops and livelihoods; this year, drought is paralyzing the rainy season, and cross-border trade is a kind of lifeline,” he says.
The trade improvement is driving customs revenue ambitions to 741 billion CFA francs for the first nine months of 2026. That figure was just one billion CFA francs in 2023.