a highly coveted oil windfall

2023-09-16 08:00:03

It is a very special council of ministers which should have been held on July 27 in Niamey. Just before a junta came to upset the course of history by overthrowing Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. Coincidence or not, on that day, the government of this Sahelian country should have approved a strategic decree, which might have allowed the creation of a new company, PetroNiger, whose objective would have been to manage the country’s oil resources.

Did this project contribute to precipitating the fall of the regime? Was it perceived by the putschists as the ultimate gesture of regaining control of a lucrative sector which might have harmed them or their sponsors? In Mohamed Bazoum’s entourage, in any case, there is little doubt regarding this scenario. “Oil is not the only motive for the putsch, but it is one of the essential levers”estimates a close advisor to the president, very clearly pointing out the responsibilities of the camp of former president Mahamadou Issoufou (2011-2021).

Although he denies it, the latter is today suspected of having played a role in General Abdourahamane Tiani’s coup. It was he who appointed the current strong man of the junta as head of the presidential guard. After the election of Mohamed Bazoum, with whom he traveled politically for thirty years, it was his son Sani Mahamadou Issoufou, known as Abba, who was promoted to minister of oil, mines and renewable energies, before being handed over at the beginning of 2022 of the renewable energy portfolio. A certain continuity.

During his two terms at the head of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou notably had control over Sonidep, the Nigerien oil company. “It’s an open secret, Sonidep has always been the slush fund of all political parties, not just the PNDS [le Parti nigérien pour la démocratie et le socialisme, fondé en 1990 par Mahamadou Issoufou] », says a member of civil society who investigated these files. This is evidenced by the massive fraud and embezzlement denounced on several occasions by the high anti-corruption authority. While the company’s debt today would reach more than 200 million dollars.

This lack of governance is all the more serious since Niger was preparing to change its economic dimension at the time of the putsch, thanks to the export of its black gold. Until now, the country’s oil production had remained modest, of the order of 20,000 barrels per day, half of which has nevertheless been sufficient since 2011 for domestic consumption while the rest was exported to neighboring countries including Nigeria. New discoveries in 2013, however, held out the promise of a different future.

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