#africanews #niger #france Only a few African countries have been able to successfully stand against their former colonial masters. Niger is among these countries. It has long been the norm that the people who have truly benefited from Africa’s abundant resources are foreigners, particularly the West. However, countries in the Sahel have begun to change this norm. This is why Niger recently kicked out Orano, a French uranium mining company that has been exploiting Niger’s uranium since Nigerian became a colony. But, how did Niger do this? Let’s find out.
Since France came in contact with Niger during the colonial period, Niger rose to become very important to France when Uranium was discovered in the country. As you know, uranium is a mineral that is used to produce nuclear power. It was first discovered in 1957 at Azelik in Niger by France Geological Society, looking for copper. However, they struck gold, and not surprisingly eight years after Independence, France entered into a series of agreements with the leaders of Niger at the time, which enabled it to have unrestricted access to the mineral. In return for this access, the leaders in Niger were guaranteed military security and protection from the threat of terrorism and internal threats such as local political opposition. France also added developmental aid as part of the agreement, one which those greedy leaders eagerly signed.
The rest is history as France set up its mining company named Areva at the time to begin exploitation of the mining site and from that time, Niger became an important trade partner to France, exporting uranium to France which it uses to provide electricity. So, this has been the norm with each successive government in Niger granting France privileged access to the country’s uranium at a very cheap cost in exchange for security and financial aid. This meant that Areva became the sole producer of uranium in Niger, controlling a larger percentage of the mining sites.
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