Niger moves to ease dependence on Nigeria’s electricity, launches power station

As part of an initiative to ease its heavy dependence on energy from neighbouring country, Nigeria; Niger on Wednesday inaugurated an oil-fired power station in the capital Niamey.

The 89-megawatt facility is designed to provide backup for Niamey, the southern region of Dosso, and Tillaberi in the west in the event of a cut in electricity supplied by Nigeria.

The inauguration ceremonies were hosted by President Mahamadou Issoufou, who is stepping down after two terms in office.

Niger is the poorest country in the world, according to the UN’s Human Development Index, a benchmark of 189 nations.

It opened a diesel-powered 80-megawatt plant near Niamey in 2017 but suffers from chronic power cuts, which sometimes last for days.

The nearly 66-billion-CFA-franc  ($120-million / 100-million-euro) cost of the new plant is being financed under a 15-year public-private partnership with a Mauritanian company, Istithmar West Africa.

Niger became a small net producer of oil in 2011 and has a refinery at Zinder, in the south of the country.