How a French Company Captured Niger

Also known as the ‘Uranium Capital of Africa’, Niger is the world’s fourth-largest producer of uranium ore, it provides 7.5 percent of the world’s mining output, from Africa’s highest-grade uranium ores, according to the World Nuclear Association. But as the usual narrative goes, uranium represents around 80 percent of the country’s exports but contributes only 5 percent to the national GDP. Uranium is arguably the most strategic commodity for France and since its discovery in Niger a major chunk of the ore has been exclusively exported to France for over 50 years by Areva, the massive state-owned nuclear power company of France. While Niger’s uranium lights the Eiffel Tower including one-third of households in France, add to that propping up France’s nuclear superpower status, the people of Arlit and Akonan, popularly known as the twin mining towns in Niger – the real owners of this valuable wealth - are living in squalor. When France began mining uranium ore in the deserts of northern Niger in the early 1970s they promised to build a ‘Little Paris’, in the country. However, the mining towns remain dusty and neglected, scoured by desert sandstorms and barely touched by the mineral wealth it ships off to Europe each year. Thanks for watching and remember to subscribe. WATCH NEXT: How Turkey is Building its way to Africa: Why Africa’s Borders are a Mess: Newest Wonder of the World: Great Green Wall of Africa: Geopolitics of the Nile: Africa’s Largest Dam: