Eighteen months after the July 26, 2023, takeover in Niamey, the promises of ‘Refoundation’ and radical break have collided with the reality of oil management. At the heart of power, the newly appointed Minister of Petroleum, Hamadou Tini, stands accused of wearing multiple hats, flouting the most basic ethical rules. A former executive at the Mazars firm, he now wields state authority to revive contracts for his private outfit, demanding unfettered access to SORAZ’s secrets. This investigation uncovers a conflict of interest at the highest level, where financial audits have become tools for purges and personal enrichment.
From rupture rhetoric to lobby return
After seizing power, the military junta of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) made economic sovereignty its main battle cry. The prime target was clear: the management of oil resources, especially the Zinder Refining Company (SORAZ). On state television, putschist propaganda denounced the fallen democratic system and its international ‘accomplices.’
Among those, the international consulting firm Mazars, a partner of the Nigerien state for a decade, was dramatically dismissed. Accused by the new regime—and by Chinese partners at the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)—of producing biased audits, Mazars seemed permanently banned from Niger’s economic scene. The official line was uncompromising: Niamey needed to hire a neutral, independent international firm, free of any suspicion, to thoroughly audit SORAZ.
Yet behind the scenes, the reality of influence networks quickly doused popular enthusiasm. Through intense lobbying maneuvers, one of Mazars’ key executives managed to infiltrate the state apparatus. In January 2026, under the direct protection of General Mody, accountant Hamadou Tini was catapulted to the head of the Ministry of Petroleum. This appointment marked the grand return of the firm he had served just weeks earlier.
Minister tini: client, provider and signatory
Scarcely settled into his ministerial seat, Hamadou Tini put into practice the popular saying that ‘charity begins at home.’ Using the authority of his position, the minister immediately revived the financial and management audit of SORAZ. But the maneuver came with a non-negotiable condition: this highly strategic mission must be entrusted to his own firm, Mazars, officially to allow it to ‘finalize its work and be paid.’
This contract reactivation pushed the concept of conflict of interest to rarely seen levels. The Minister of Petroleum simultaneously became the client ordering the audit on behalf of the Nigerien state, the provider executing the mission through his firm Mazars, the final recipient of the audit reports, and the sole signatory of public checks that pay for the service.
This accumulation of roles deprives the Nigerien state of any guarantee of independence. How can a firm objectively audit a public company when its own former executive is the supervising minister?
The decree of discord: race for confidential documents
The power play did not stop at signing contracts. With the transition’s future uncertain, time is pressing for the Tini clan. The minister has issued a veritable decree, an order without appeal, to SORAZ’s management.
Through a ministerial directive, Hamadou Tini demands that Mazars be given, ‘without delay or restriction, all financial, accounting, technical and operational documents within eight days.’ These are precisely the strategic and confidential data that the refinery’s management and Chinese partners had stubbornly refused him in the past to protect trade secrets.
In Niamey, local observers cite another popular wisdom to sum up the situation: ‘He who has looked through the keyhole already knows what is on the table.’ Knowing SORAZ’s accounting weaknesses intimately from his former position, the minister knows exactly where to look to get what he wants.
The mystery of sacrificed ministers
This brutal takeover of SORAZ sheds new light on the chronic instability that has plagued the Ministry of Petroleum since the coup. In three years, three ministers have succeeded each other in this strategic post. A game of musical chairs that seems closely linked to the secrets of the Zinder refinery.
Before Hamadou Tini arrived, Minister Mahaman Moustapha Barké had announced with great fanfare in June 2024 the launch of a vast financial audit of SORAZ. A few months later, on January 13, 2025, he was arrested and detained by the Directorate General for Documentation and External Security (DGDSE). He was held in secret for nearly a year, without judicial process, until his release on January 6, 2026. His successor, Dr. Sahabi Oumarou, appointed in haste, also tried to relaunch the audit in February 2025 before being swiftly removed from his post.
Industry sources now accuse Hamadou Tini of playing an active role in the downfall of his predecessors. While still an expert at Mazars, he allegedly drafted memoranda and reports deliberately slanted to discredit Barké and Oumarou’s management before the junta. The technical objective was twofold: remove obstacles to Mazars’ return and profile the ministerial post for a tailor-made candidate… himself.
A ‘refoundation’ on life support
The SORAZ affair highlights the deep contradictions of the Niamey regime. While the Nigerien population suffers the full economic consequences of diplomatic isolation and still awaits the promised oil wealth, the resources from the black gold mine seem first to serve corporate interests.
The SORAZ audit, initially demanded by civil society as an act of transparency and public hygiene, has become a tool in a clan war. In the hands of the minister-auditor, it serves both as a shield to mask conflicts of interest and as a cash register for his former firm. For the ‘Refoundation’ promised by the CNSP, the diagnosis is harsh: the management of Niger’s oil has not changed methods, only the beneficiaries have changed.