PARIS: Finance Minister of Niger says that next to nothing support from the developed countries is the reason why Africa’s Sahel region country cannot give oil as a source of revenue.
Landlocked Niger has initiated the construction of an oil pipeline to a seaport in Benin covering a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers. This would be the African continent’s longest pipeline.
Environmental activists remain concerned about projects that allow the use of fossil fuels indefinitely. Such fuels are behind the out-of-control climate damages.
Niger Strongly Resists Revenue Source
Talking to AFP, Niger’s Finance Minister Ahmat Jidoud said that for his country currently there were no other means to generate revenue.
Jidoud added that his country should be able to utilize it till the situation is such that a climate-friendly transition becomes possible.
According to the Human Development Index prepared by the UN, with a population of 26 million is at the bottom of the world’s poorest list, however, it has an annual population growth rate of 3.7 percent.
With reference to these figures, Jidood said we are facing a ‘social time-bomb’ which can only be averted by local oil income. – AFP/APP
