Since 2019, commercial activity has gradually returned to the routes linking northern Nigeria with Cameroon’s Far North. The improved security situation along this strategic corridor has allowed transporters to get back on the road, breathing new life into customs revenue and sparking fresh debate about what the future holds for cross-border trade.
Back from Maroua, our correspondent reports.
A line of heavy-duty trucks arriving from Nigeria sits idle on both sides of the sandy track that connects the economic giant to Cameroon. These convoys were once prime targets for Boko Haram attacks. The situation has changed for the better, 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 at all. There is security from Kourgui to Amchidé and to Yagoua, no problem on the road.”
Yet even with the corridor now secured, Aboubacar Mahamed says timing matters. “Cameroonian soldiers from the Rapid Intervention Battalion are making huge 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. “Around 6 a.m. the next morning, you can set off. It is better to start moving from 6 a.m. and park around 5 p.m.”
To reach Kourgui, these truckers pass through Limani, the main customs office on the Cameroonian side. Shut down in 2014 because of Boko Haram atrocities, it reopened seven years ago.
A lifeline corridor for local communities
Célestin Delanga, a specialist on Lake Chad basin security issues at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), underscores the significance of resumed 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, along with the strengthened security apparatus along cross-border trade routes, is helping to revitalise commercial exchanges.”
Communities long battered by Boko Haram violence are also reaping the rewards of this economic uptick. For Célestin Delanga, cross-border trade now plays a crucial role in a region facing new climate-related hardships. “Two years ago, floods destroyed crops and livelihoods. This year, drought is paralysing the rainy season. Cross-border trade is a kind of lifeline,” he says.
The improved trade landscape is pushing customs revenue ambitions to 741 billion CFA francs for the first nine months of 2026. That figure stood at just one billion CFA francs in 2023.
Reactions and the road ahead
The turnaround has sparked a mix of relief and caution among those who depend on the corridor. Traders who once abandoned the route are gradually returning, while local officials point to the reopening of customs posts as a sign of normalisation. Still, questions remain about whether the security gains can be sustained over the long term, especially as climate shocks continue to test the resilience of communities along the border.
For now, the data tells a story of recovery: from a single billion CFA francs in 2023 to 741 billion CFA francs in the first nine months of 2026. But the debate is shifting from whether trade can restart to how it can be kept alive in a region where security and climate risks are never far away.