From Monday to Friday, Radio Ndarason International, the radio station that gives a voice to the people of the Lake in their own languages, opens its airwaves to its listeners to hear their concerns. In view of the organization of the Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum being held in NDjamena this Thursday, Radio Ndarason listeners invited the Governors to focus on “the revival of economic activities”.

Hosted in the Kanembou language by journalist Haoua Mahamat Adouma, the program drew some fifteen calls this morning from listeners, including merchants and livestock traders.
In the Lake Chad basin, following exactions by members of Jamāʿat Ahl al-Sunna li-l-Daʿawah wa al-Jihād (JAS – often known as Boko Haram), some major road routes for transporting goods in between countries are impassable. The river route is not always safe either.

“With all these risks to the transport of goods, traders are afraid to take certain routes. These difficulties affect the transport of raw materials as well as finished goods”, Dr Ahmat Yacoub Dabio, President of CDPE (Centre de Développement de la Prévention pour l’Extrémisme violent), told Radio Ndarason.

For Abdoulaye Yerima, another caller, the roads must become safe again. “For more than 10 years, it has been impossible for us herders to drive cattle across the lake to Nigeria. This is unacceptable. The governors must find a solution to help livestock traders”.
For listener Ali Malloum, the revival of commercial activities, especially cross-border trade, must be achieved by reopening the river routes, particularly between Chad and Nigeria. “The river route is cheaper and faster” he says.
Another listener, Tella Mbokoye, felt that the reconstruction and reopening of certain routes from Maiduguri to N’Djaména is essential.

Idriss Moussa, another listener, was furious, because he thinks that whatever he tells the radio his opinions will not be taken into account.

Abdallah Cherif, for his part, called for customs posts to be reinforced, while also proposing that customs taxes be reduced.

This Thursday, the listeners who spoke to Radio Ndarason acknowledged that the conflicts that have been going on for several years are damaging social and economic affairs, and above all damaging cross-border trade.

The Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum is a platform for exchange between stakeholders. It is also the main platform for political dialogue par excellence in the Lake Chad Basin. Since the forum’s inauguration in 2018 and for the first time ever in its history, this year there is a pre-forum whose aim is to identify new perspectives, an opportunity for nuanced discussions and further promote regional collaboration – at the main Forum and beyond. The pre-forum consists of several parallel events over the two days leading up to the main forum.