Arlit: The cash cow of Niger’s economy

For the second time this year, I was in  Agadez, from where I proceeded to Arlit. Horrifying stories about the former rebel enclave did not deter me from my mission to Arlit. As we covered about 235 kilometres from Agadez to Arlit, I felt  fulfilled, as I achieved my goal, while my co-travellers were unable […]

For the second time this year, I was in  Agadez, from where I proceeded to Arlit. Horrifying stories about the former rebel enclave did not deter me from my mission to Arlit. As we covered about 235 kilometres from Agadez to Arlit, I felt  fulfilled, as I achieved my goal, while my co-travellers were unable to achieve theirs. This solely owed to the security challenges Niger had once encountered,  as a result of attack on the country’s oil and uranium exploration fields. Hence visitors are barred from going round the facilities.
We were in Arlit between 14th and 16th of November, 2013. Within those two days, we travelled along a rough road, and many  times our driver had to skip the tarred  road, as it is full of potholes. This is really a very difficult journey. One would spend more than an hour without coming across another vehicle that is passing, except few petroleum  tankers coming from Algeria and Libya.
However, when we left Agadez for Arlit, our guide  suggested that we should change  course, and so we covered another 95 km towards  the direction of Tchirozerine, a town that hosts the electrical power supply company of Niger, known as SONICHAR (Société Nigérienne de Charbon d’Anou Araren). But before we were allowed to gain entry into the facilities, we had to part  with all our electronic gadgets, including cameras and handsets. Nigerien soldiers were ordered by the prefect of Tchirozerine to escort us, and  we were conducted round the facilities.
The technical manager of SONICHAR, explained the technological processes involved in the production of electricity through the use of coal. As a matter of fact, we were taken aback by the technological advancement of Niger Republic, most especially when we noticed that throughout our stay in the country, we hardly experienced power outage.
Engineer Ali Mati, furnished us with the basic information  of the technicalities involved in the production of electricity, through the use of coal and water. Thus, he stated  “We heat coal in the furnaces, and water is also heated to a higher temperature, and we finally produce electricity from steam.” He also explained the distribution channels, and the beneficiary towns include: Arlit, Akokan, Tchirozerine and other towns around Agadez.
We  left Tchirozerine and proceeded to Tumfadak, another tourist  centre, where people troop from all over Africa and the Middle East ,for medical pilgrimage.
Unfortunately for me, throughout our sojourn in both Tchirozerine and Tumfadak, I could not take pictures because we arrived late in the night and we were compelled by our guide to leave Tumfadak, and get back toTchirozerine. Back in Tchirozerine, we were hosted by Engineer Ali Mati. Early  the following morning we went the prefecture to express our gratitude  to the prefect, having learnt how he struggled to ensure that we were allowed to visit SONICHAR.
As we resumed our mission to Arlit, we had a flat tyre in the middle  of the desert. All the travellers disembarked, and  some of us assisted our driver to fix a spare tyre. When we arrived a nearby village, we gave the  vulcanizer our faulty tyre to put it in good shape; which he did within the quickest  possible time. We continued  with the journey until we reached a check point around six in the evening, and the security men halted our journey, since there is a rule that ‘nobody will be allowed to enter Arlit after six.’ But having obtained our lesse passé from the consulate office, and our guide is the Sardauna of Agadez, we were later allowed to pass. We arrived Arlit around 10 o’clock; our host Elhadj Kadiri came out of his father’s house with a smile as if we had been acquainted with him for a very long time. He said: “Today I am your chief host.”

Our host ushered us into an apartment, where we kept our luggage. He took us to a spacious living room, where we watched the television. Already an elderly woman in the house prepared our dinner, after the dinner everybody returned to his bed.
Early in the morning, we started pursuing our mission to both SOMAIR and COMINAK (Compagnie Minière d’Akouta), but all efforts made by the top government officials to see to the acutalisation of our dream proved abortive. We were only able to make it to the gate of SOMAIR. However, inspite the fact that we were not allowed entry into the facilities, we walked around the construction site near the gate. Having known the modus operandi of Nigerien government, our host, Elhadj Kadiri advised us to abandon our mission. “You should abandon your mission of visiting SOMAIR and COMINAK. I am most certain they would not allow you into the facilty. This is for no other reason than the fact that Niger had some little security challenges, in the recent past, all of which affected SOMAIR,” he said.
Our guide attributed our failure to my utterances, as according to him, I often introduced myself as the reporter. “So long as you continue to introduce yourself as a journalist we won’t be allowed into the facility,” he opined. However, majority of the people whom we intermingled with, stressed that the authorities had nothing to do with me being a journalist, ‘they are only afraid of Alqaida in  the Magrib, AQIM.’
To cut a long story short, I intermingled with Arabs, Abzins and Hausas of this town; which is a confluence of intercultural activities, as well as  the cash cow of  Niger’s economy. It is also a transit town to North Africa, and illegal emigrants  make it their entry point to Europe. By and large it is a hybrid of  a world class city and a remote village. There are world class facilities within the vicinity of SOMAIR and COMINAK, as well as the staff quarters of their workers.But on the other side of the town there are slums, comprising dilapidated mud houses, owned  by the commoners residing in this important town.
Eventhough Arlit had once been a rebel enclave, I still expressed some fears for Arlit. As a Nigerian, I feared that it will turn into another version of Nigeria’s Niger-Delta; where the oil companies polluted the environment and the inhabitants  resorted to rebellion in the form of oil bunkering and pipeline vandalisation. Our guide  quickly pointed out to me that  Arlit and Nigeria’s Niger Delta are poles  apart. “Nigerien authorities are working round the clock to address any imbalance in the town,” he stated. Whatever the case may be, essential commodities are cheaper in Arlit than anywhere in the country. Many people hold the view that the Nigerien government subsidises  everything in the town. While other relate it to the town’s closeness to north Africa, most especially Algeria and Libya.