Niger’s sovereignty claim: can a UN speech hide the SOMAÏR and SONIDEP collapse?

At the podium of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, the Prime Minister of Niger’s military regime, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, once again indulged in his favourite exercise: the grand sovereignist tirade. Before a gathering of international envoys, the junta’s frontman hammered out the usual slogans of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP): “reappropriation of national resources”, “economic independence” and “break with neocolonialism”.

But once the cameras are off and the lyrical flights are shelved, the reality of the numbers brutally catches up with the generals in power in Niamey. Under the leadership of General Abdourahamane Tiani and his government, the jewels of Niger’s economy are sinking into totally chaotic management. Behind the patriotic veneer, the industrial record of SOMAÏR and SONIDEP reveals a financial fiasco that is beginning to cost the Nigerian people dearly.

The SOMAÏR crash: from “recovery” to the cardiac arrest of uranium

For decades, uranium from Arlit fuelled the rhetoric of resentment. By taking operational control of the Société des Mines de l’Aïr (SOMAÏR) and sidelining the historic French partner Orano, Tiani and his clique promised a recovered financial windfall for the country.

The result on the ground is catastrophic: uranium production has collapsed by around 80% since the new authorities took over.

• Broken supply chains: The inability to deliver essential chemical reagents (such as sulphuric acid) and logistical blockages at borders have paralysed the Arlit site.
• Commercial bottleneck: Lacking solid distribution networks and reliable export certificates, tonnes of uranium concentrate (yellowcake) remain stored on site, unsellable.
• Immediate social impact: Local subcontractors are no longer paid, jobs are evaporating and the tax revenues expected to fund Nigerian hospitals or schools have turned into a mirage.

Changing the flag on a factory gate is not enough to make its machines run. In mining engineering, the amateurism of slogans does not replace technical competence and management rigour.

SONIDEP and the mystery of the 25 billion FCFA black hole

If uranium management is a shipwreck, the oil dossier borders on a state scandal. The Société Nigérienne des Produits Pétroliers (SONIDEP), propelled by the CNSP to the heart of the crude oil marketing strategy notably via the new giant pipeline to the Beninese coast, was supposed to be the financial engine of this new era.

Yet, according to internal balance sheets and progress reports, SONIDEP would show an abysmal loss estimated at more than 25 billion CFA francs.

This figure alone illustrates the bankruptcy of the military management model: on one side, SOMAÏR sees its production collapse by nearly 80%, destroying the added value of the uranium sector; on the other, SONIDEP, supposed to harvest the fruits of national oil, accumulates a record deficit of 25 billion FCFA instead of feeding state coffers. Together, these two public flagships symbolise a veritable system of evaporation of public resources under the cover of illusory nationalism.

How does a national company that holds the monopoly on black gold distribution, in a country supposed to become a major oil exporter, manage the feat of accumulating such a financial abyss? The absence of certified accounting statements and the radio silence of the Ministry of Petroleum fuel all suspicions: mismanagement, dubious negotiated contracts, improvised intermediaries and overbilling.

Sovereignty cannot serve as a screen for incompetence

Faced with this industrial rout, the reflex of the Tiani-Zeine tandem is well-oiled: systematically accusing ECOWAS, international sanctions, the “invisible hand of imperialism” or the management of previous regimes.

At some point, the leaders led by Abdourahamane Tiani must account to their population:

1. Where are the audit reports promised with great fanfare during the July 2023 coup?
2. How are the sales contracts for Nigerian oil and uranium really negotiated?
3. What exactly are the rare revenues collected by the Public Treasury used for if the major national companies are going bankrupt?

The true sovereignty of a people is measured by acts and concrete results: public companies that create value, salaries paid on time, investments in basic services and total transparency on public finances.

By using the patriotic argument to mask the bankruptcies of SOMAÏR and SONIDEP, the CNSP diverts the very meaning of the word sovereignty. The Nigerian people do not feed on speeches at the UN: they need an economy that works.

By Marguerite Ndongo — Political and Security Analyst