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| Picture: A uranium mine in Niger. Yann Arthus-Bertrand/ Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS |
Niger’s uranium
powers one in three light bulbs in France, but delivers little to the Nigerien
people. A major uranium producer with a population of just 17 million, Niger is
one of the world’s poorest countries. Some 90 percent of its people have no electricity
at all.
Niger
is clearly not getting a fair deal for the uranium it sells. For the first time
in 10 years, however, Niger’s uranium contract with the French nuclear energy
company AREVA is up for renewal.
A
fair deal could help lift millions out of poverty. But for that to happen, the
secrecy surrounding contract renegotiations must end.
“How
can we lift ourselves out of poverty when we get such a poor deal for our
resources?” asks Ali Idrissa, coordinator of the Publish What
You Pay (PWYP) coalition in Niger. The network that campaigns
for transparency in Niger’s mining sector.
For
years, PWYP activities were subject to arrests and intimidations for their
work. With a new government since 2011, however, Niger has gradually improved
its natural resource transparency. The current Minister of Justice, Marou
Amadou, had been active in the PWYP coalition.
The
coalition is determined that Niger should have a fair deal for its uranium.
In
2010, for example, two mines produced uranium worth more than €3.5 billion. But
Niger received just €459 million, or 13% of this amount, according to a report by PWYP Niger and Oxfam France.
AREVA
received tax exemptions worth €320 million in 2012, the report says.
Already
the world’s fourth-largest producer of uranium, Niger will become the second
largest when it begins extraction at its Imouraren mine. But 75% of its people
live on less than $2 a day. The country ranked last of the 186 countries in the
2012 UN Human Development Index.
Although
mining constituted 70.8% of Niger’s exports in 2010, it contributed only 5.8%
of the country’s gross domestic product.
In
its 2013 report, the Africa Progress Panel
recommends that new agreements be subject to parliamentary debate and scrutiny.
Governments should use auctions and competitive bidding to sell mining
concessions and licences, EITI standards should be strengthened to bring full
transparency to the whole extractive industry value chain, the 2013 Africa
Progress Report further says.
BY: Stephen Yeboah, Research and
Communications Assistant, Africa Progress Panel
