Top Chinese oil executives expelled

In what Capital FM says is a stunning flex of nationalistic muscle, Niger’s military junta has expelled top Chinese oil executives and shuttered a landmark Chinese hotel – tearing through the facade of Beijing’s long-touted ’win-win co-operation’ with Africa. The abrupt move saw executives from three major Chinese oil firms – China National Petroleum Corporation, Société de Raffinage de Zinder and the West African Oil Pipeline Company – given just 48 hours to leave the country. According to the Alliance of Sahel States, these companies had shown a ‘flagrant disregard’ for Niger’s sovereignty over its natural resources. This isn’t just a diplomatic fallout. It’s a clear and calculated rejection of what many see as decades of exploitative, one-sided arrangements masked as development partnerships. The junta’s accusations paint a classic picture of neo-colonial resource extraction: refusal to adopt fair wage scales, failure to meet local supplier quotas, lack of investment in local talent, and a deliberate stonewalling of technology transfers. Niger’s Oil Minister Sahabi Oumarou said the average monthly salary for a Chinese employee in Niger, was $8 678. For a Nigerien in the same role? Just $1 200.

‘We are not satisfied with the way in which wealth is distributed between the State of Niger and the partner,’ Oumarou said. To drive the point home, the government also revoked the operating licence of the Soluxe International Hotel in Niamey – a lavish, eight-hectare symbol of Sino-Nigerian co-operation inaugurated in 2013. The Tourism Ministry cited ‘discriminatory practices and abusive prohibition of access to other nationalities’, unauthorised expansion, and data manipulation to dodge tourism levies. Once a crown jewel of China’s soft power in West Africa, the hotel now stands as a symbol of broken promises. According to Capital FM, these moves are no accident. Last August, the junta issued an ordinance aimed at ensuring ‘national wealth goes primarily to the benefit of Nigeriens.’ The Chinese companies’ alleged defiance of this vision made their removal inevitable. It also marks a broader shift in Niger’s foreign policy. The junta has cut military ties with traditional Western partners like the US and France, seized a French-operated uranium mine, and begun cozying up to Russia and Turkey.

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