The crippling fuel shortages in Niger and the change in thinking towards development aid by the developed World are clear warnings to Africa on the urgent need to deepen regional integration, and more so for the self-proclaimed Alliance of Sahel States, AES countries, making a public show of quitting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at all costs.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have effectively formalised their withdrawal from ECOWAS, having served notice to quit the regional economic bloc in January 2024, but the organisation in a demonstration of good faith, has allowed them a nine-month grace period until September 2025 to rejoin if they change their mind.
Last December, the Niger junta leader Abdourahamane Tchiani without any proof, went on his country’s state television to accuse Nigeria of attempts to destabilise Niger. Niger’s Foreign Minister, Bakary Yaou Sangare had also alleged that Nigerian government was complicit in a purported December 13 sabotage of the Niger-Benin oil pipeline in Gaya. The Niger government summoned Nigeria’s Charge d’affaires in Niamey to complain.
Nigeria dismissed all the allegations as unfounded, while the ECOWAS Commission issued a public statement in defence of Nigeria.
As it turned out, and as Nigeria stated then, Tchiani was only using the playbook of the AES junta leaders – using propaganda and disinformation to divert attention from the mounting governance problems they faced.
Nigeria has no reason to destabilise its smaller neighbour, which it continues to support materially and otherwise, including in infrastructure development such as road construction, rail projects, and fuel supply at concessionary rates.
Three months on, reality has now dawned on the Tchiani-led junta. Niger has been facing unprecedented severe fuel shortages for several weeks, characterised by winding queues at the few filling stations with supply and the stifling economic activities across the land-locked country, listed by the United Nations Development Report as among the poorest in the World.
With nowhere else to go, the once arrogant Niamey junta turned to Nigeria for a bailout, but this time, without the usual publicity.
According to industry sources in Niamey and Abuja, the situation was so desperate that the Tchiani-led junta swallowed its pride and allowed a delegation led by the Chief Executive of the Niger Petroleum Company, SONIDEP to visit Abuja on an S.O.S. mission.
Following a meeting with Nigerian petroleum industry officials, which was largely unannounced “some 300 fuel trucks were approved for immediate delivery across the border to Niger,” according to the sources. The terms or details of the agreement were not available.
Industry officials in Niger blamed the severe fuel shortages on the confrontation between the junta government in Niamey and the Chinese oil companies, which have long dominated Niger’s petroleum sector.
The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) was said to have granted the Niger government an advance of about US$400 million in 2024, using future crude oil deliveries as collateral to help Niger cope with the lingering effects of the sanctions earlier imposed by ECOWAS following the July 2023 military coup that brought the Tchiani regime to power – the sanctions have since been lifted.
When it was time for Niger to repay the Chinese, the cash-strapped junta government was alleged to have attempted to arm-twist China, forcing the Asian country to slap billions of dollars in tax demand on the Niger Refinery Company.
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