The Board agreed the outcome of the Niger's targeted assessment
Outcome of the targeted assessment of Niger
Board decision
Following a review of Requirements 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 in Niger in accordance with Article 8 of Section 2, part 1 of the 2023 EITI Standard and Board Decision 2024-52, the Board finds that Niger has achieved ‘mostly met’ on Requirements 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 on government, industry and civil society engagement, and ‘partly met’ on Requirements 1.4 and 1.5 on multistakeholder oversight and work planning respectively.
The Board commends Niger for sustaining EITI reporting in a challenging political, economic and security environment. The Board welcomes the government’s, industry and civil society continued engagement in the EITI process, which allowed key disclosures on the management of the extractives sector to be available to wide audiences. All stakeholders recognise value of EITI implementation in the country’s context.
The Board commends the government’s continued operational engagement in the EITI despite sharpened financial and security stresses. The Board calls on the government to convene the Supervisory Committee to publicly renew its support to the EITI Principles, in line with its constitutional commitment for the transparent management of extractive resources in the interest of future generations, and to the committee to exercise its mandate of the strategic oversight of EITI implementation. The Board calls on the government to ensure the sustainability of EITI implementation and to build on the multi-stakeholder group as forum for discussion, building on recommendations from implementation, as the government formulates policy decisions. The multi-stakeholder group is called to ensure the effective oversight of implementation of the EITI and to ensure that views from all constituencies are adequately reflected, including in the work plan. The government of Niger should ensure there is an enabling environment for companies’ active participation in the EITI process.
EITI implementation in Niger has allowed active civil society participation in EITI implementation. The Board recognises that Niger EITI has provided a key platform to publish and disseminate information on extractive resource governance. While recognising that the EITI continues to create a space for civil society participation, the Board expresses deep concerns that the wider restrictions on civic space stifle public debate and lead to self-censorship. This impacts both civil society’s and companies’ freedoms of expression and of operation in relation to the EITI process and public debate on extractive industry governance. The Board considers that these restrictions and their impact constitute a breach of the EITI protocol: Participation of civil society. The Board urges the government to preserve civic space to ensure transparency leads to accountability. The Board recommends that Niger uses the EITI process to monitor and address any allegations of constraints on civil society’s ability to meaningfully engage in public debate on extractive industry governance in accordance with the EITI protocol: Participation of civil society. All stakeholders involved in the EITI process and public debate on extractive industry governance should be able to freely express critical views publicly without fear of reprisals.
The Board has determined that Niger will have until a next Validation commencing on 1 October 2026 to carry out corrective actions regarding Government engagement (Requirement 1.1), Industry engagement (Requirement 1.2), Civil society engagement (Requirement 1.3), Multi-stakeholder governance (Requirement 1.4), and Work plan (Requirement 1.5). Failure to demonstrate progress on Stakeholder engagement in the next Validation may result in temporary suspension in accordance with Article 6 of the EITI Standard. In accordance with the EITI Standard, Niger may request an extension of this timeframe or request that Validation commences earlier than scheduled.
| EITI Requirement | Progress | Score |
|---|---|---|
Government engagement (#1.1) | Mostly met | 60 |
Industry engagement (#1.2) | Mostly met | 60 |
Civil society engagement (#1.3) | Mostly met | 60 |
MSG governance (#1.4) | Partly met | 30 |
Work plan (#1.5) | Partly met | 30 |
Corrective actions and strategic recommendations
The EITI Board agreed the following corrective actions to be undertaken by Niger. Progress in addressing these corrective actions will be assessed in the next Validation commencing on 1 October 2026:
In accordance with Requirement 1.1 and given its strategic importance, the Government should ensure that the Supervisory Committee, which provides high-level oversight of the EITI implementation, resumes its regular meetings as soon possible to send a signal of high-level government commitment and provide the strategic direction for EITI implementation. Niger should ensure that the government is fully, actively and effectively engaged in all aspects of the EITI process at the strategic and operational level. The government should publicly renew its high-level commitment to the EITI Principles and to EITI implementation, in line with its national priorities in the development and contribution of the extractives sector. The government should ensure the mobilisation of sufficient technical and financial resources for all aspects of EITI implementation covering the convening and leadership of MSG meetings, outreach and dissemination activities, taking steps to overcome barriers to the EITI process, and strengthen multi-stakeholder dialogue around key extractive reforms and projects.
To strengthen implementation of Requirement 1.1, the government is encouraged to inform the MSG on any upcoming reviews of laws and regulations as they pertain to the governance of the extractives sector to ensure that EITI implementation can inform policymaking and practice. The government is encouraged to share the findings of the announced audit for the mining sector with the MSG as well as share the findings of the audit report to the public.
In accordance with Requirement 1.2, Niger should ensure an enabling environment for companies to fully, actively and effectively engage in all aspects of the EITI process. Companies should be fully engaged in providing input to the design of EITI implementation, ensure full attendance at MSG meetings, fully participate in EITI reporting and provide active contributions to EITI-related outreach and dissemination.
To strengthen implementation, extractive companies are urged to solicit the priorities of the wider constituency in the work plan objectives and to discuss issues affecting the sector in the MSG.
In accordance to Requirement 1.3, Niger should ensure that all members of the civil society constituency are fully and effectively engaged in all aspects of the EITI process. Niger should ensure that members of the wider civil society constituency engaged in the EITI process are able to express their views, including critical ones, freely without fear of reprisal and restraints. The government must refrain from actions which result in narrowing or restricting public debate in relation to implementation of the EITI.
The government and MSG should ensure that laws and regulations governing the operations of civil society in Niger, including the 2019 law on the repression of cybercrime, tightened in 2024, the counterterrorism decree, the law on the interception of certain communications by electronic means and the 2022 decree on development CSOs are not used to constrain any aspect of civil society’s engagement in the EITI process and public debate on natural resource governance, including in relation to their freedoms of expression and of operation. The government should undertake measures to prevent civil society actors engaged in the EITI process from being harassed, intimidated, or persecuted for expressing views related to oil, gas or mining governance. In the event that civil society actors engaged in the EITI experience threats or harassment for expressing views about the governance of the extractive industries or engaging in other EITI-related activities, the government is expected to undertake measures to protect these actors and their freedom of expression.
The MSG is expected to monitor adherence to the EITI Protocol: Participation of civil society, including the enforcement of laws that may limit critical expressions, and the operation of organisations engaged in the EITI, and document its discussions related to any shortcomings identified, as well as activities undertaken to address them. Civil society members of the MSG are encouraged to bring any ad hoc restrictions that could constitute a breach of the protocol to the attention of the MSG.
The MSG is encouraged to work with all constituencies to ensure sufficient funding for civil society and work with them on strengthening the technical capacity of the broader constituency, to strengthen their meaningful engagement in all aspects of EITI implementation.
In accordance with Requirement 1.4, Niger should ensure full and effective oversight of all aspects of EITI implementation, including providing strategic direction on implementation with a view to contributing to public debate, review of current practice in extractives governance with a view to contributing to policy and reforms. The supervisory committee, the multi-stakeholder board of the MSG, should fulfil its oversight role in providing strategic direction, approve the workplan and budget, and discuss key recommendations from EITI implementation. The multi-stakeholder group should effectively meet according to the Terms of Reference and oversee key implementation steps, such as reporting, work planning and monitoring, and report to the supervisory committee. All constituencies should ensure that their broader constituencies are effectively consulted on key EITI products. The multi-stakeholder group should undertake effective outreach activities with civil society groups and companies, including through communication such as media, website and letters, informing stakeholders of the government’s commitment to implement the EITI, and the central role of companies and civil society. Any deviations from the MSG’s governance documents, including in the frequency of meetings, should be publicly documented.
To strengthen implementation, the MSG could consider revitalising its working groups to strengthen the multi-stakeholder oversight of technical aspects of EITI implementation. The MSG should ensure that the invitation to participate in the MSG is open and transparent and that the procedures for nominating and changing MSG representatives, and the practices followed, are publicly documented. The MSG and each constituency should consider gender balance in their representation to progress towards gender parity on the MSG.
- In accordance with Requirement 1.5, the MSG should ensure that the work plan reflects the priorities of the government, industry and civil society constituencies and that is aligned with the EITI principles and the strategic priorities of the EITI, as relevant in the country context.
Background
Niger signed up to the EITI in 2007, withdrew in 2017 and re-joined in February 2020. Niger’s Validation against the 2019 Standard commenced on 1 April 2023. Following the coup in July 2023 the EITI Board put Niger under enhanced monitoring, originally for a phase of three months, and then extended the monitoring period for another 12 months in February 2024. The commenced Validation was formally closed in May 2024 given that the Secretariat’s initial assessment, which was based on stakeholders’ engagement under the previous regime, was substantially out of date. In the context of concluding all 2019 Standard assessments by mid-2025, the Board mandated the International Secretariat to undertake a targeted assessment of Niger on Requirement 1. Developments on Niger were regularly monitored by the Board’s Rapid Response Committee.
This assessment was undertaken in accordance to targeted assessment procedure. An in-person mission was conducted from 23-25 February in Niamey for stakeholder consultations and was composed of two EITI Board members and two International Secretariat members.
The period under review of the assessment of Requirements 1.1-1.5 is July 2023 to 1 January 2025. The assessment takes stock of the developments in this timeframe, with the draft Validation report, completed in July 2023, serving as a benchmark. Where relevant, more recent resources since 1 January 2025 were cited. The requirements were assessed under the 2019 EITI Standard. Niger submitted documentation for this assessment in mid-January, available under ‘Resources’ in the Targeted assessment report.
