the challenges facing landlocked developing countries: a case study ...

NIGER
Niger exports largely to its most important neighbor, Nigeria,
and to France. Trade has suffered significantly from the civil
crises of its transit neighbors as well as internal political
conflict. The crisis in Togo in the early 1990s, for example,
had serious effects as much Nigerien transit trade had to be
diverted through other, less convenient, ports. Similarly,
recent crises in Nigeria led to the closure of the Lagos port
and subsequent price increases in Niger. Even the ongoing
conflict in Côte d’Ivoire is expected to have effects on the
Nigerien economy, as transport bottlenecks are expected to
reduce the supply of intermediate inputs (EIU 2002). In
addition to these regional crises, continuing domestic turmoil
since independence has plagued Niger. The last decade has
been no exception with the continuing violence by the Tuareg
rebels, several attempted political coups (two in the last three
years), and the assassination of President Maïnassara in 1999.
Niger is fortunate to have several access corridors to the sea
via Togo, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana. Only two
of these corridors (Nigeria and Benin) provide direct access to
the sea, with the others requiring passage through a third
country. It is these two direct corridors that serve as the
primary transit routes for Nigerien trade – the Benin corridor
(to Cotonou) accounts for 65%, while the Nigerian route (to
Lagos) accounts for an additional 16%.
Efforts are also being made to liberalize the transport sector,
whose monopolistic nature has been traditionally responsible
for escalated costs, although implementation has thus far been
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slow. Despite these efforts, the road transport union
(Synidcat des Transporteurs Routiers du Niger, STRN) has
implemented a system to “allocate domestic passenger traffic
and international freight from Benin and Togo” that
establishes tariffs at a rate two-thirds above those set by
Beninese truckers (Evlo 1995).
BASIC INFORMATION
HDI Rank: 172
GDP per capita
2000 (PPP$): $746
Exports per capita
2000 (current USD): $26
Distance to port:
1,057km
Transport cost ratio
(1995): 0.28
Neighbors:
Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Chad, Libya, Mali, Nigeria
Primary transit neighbors:
Benin, Nigeria
Main trading partners:
Imports: France (19%)
Côte d’Ivoire (15%)
Exports: Nigeria (37%)
France (36%)
Primary Exports:
Uranium (35%)
Livestock (17%)
Domestic Roads: fair
Transit Country Roads: fair
Domestic Rails:
Transit Country Rails:
none
poor
Transit Country Ports: fair
Neighboring Civil Conflict:
high
Relations w/ Neighbors: good
26 The Organisation commune Benin-Niger (OCBN), a joint parastatal railway company, had a monopoly of
transit from Cotonou to Parakou, and a monopoly to organize transshipment and onward transit to Niamey; and
the national road transport company, Societe Nationale des Transports du Niger (SNTN) held a monopoly on
mining freight.
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