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The coup in Niger Republic has created a standoff between the country and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The coup, which led to the toppling of the democratically elected president of the country, Mohammed Bazoum, led to the imposition of sanctions on the country, among which was the closure of borders of ECOWAS sharing borders with Niger.
After a major outcry and pleading, ECOWAS suspended the sanctions, but this was after Niger and two other countries, Mali and Burkina Faso, withdrew their membership from the bloc to form a new confederation by the junta-ruling countries.
The eventual suspension of the sanction by ECOWAS resulted in Nigeria opening its border. However, Niger initially refused to open its border a week after Nigeria.
The action of Niger has stirred debate on social media on how the country would survive without the importation of goods and services from its neighbour since it is a landlocked country.
To show that the country can develop without Nigerian inputs, an X user, Sy Marcus Herve Traore, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on March 19, claiming it was that of the Kandadji dam in Niger Republic undergoing construction.
Our team of fact-checkers has fact-checked the claim as part of DUBAWA’s efforts to promote truthful and factual public discourse and fight misinformation and disinformation.
Claim 1: An X user (@marcus_herve), Sy Marcus Herve Traore, used an image to claim that the Kandadji dam in Niger Republic is under construction.
Verdict: The claim is false. Checks on Shutterstock reveal that the dam in the post is the Gariep dam in South Africa, not the Kandadji dam.
Brief on Kandadji dam
A report by HumAngle stated the dam is located near the town of Kandadji in the Tillaberi region of Niger Republic. When completed, it would provide 130 megawatts of electricity to the country.
The project is funded by the World Bank, Africa Development Bank, the French Development Agency and the Islamic Development Bank to cost €1.1 billion.
Construction started in 2008 under Mamadou Tandja’s presidency. It was contracted to a Russian company, Zaroubegevodstroï (ZVS), but a Chinese company, Gezhouba Group Company Limited, later carried it out.
The completion of the project was postponed on several occasions, and 2025 was given as the new date due to further delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Work on the dam was also suspended following the August coup due to the economic sanctions ECOWAS placed on it.
As of March 28, 2024, the post had 692,600 views with 410 comments, 1,300 retweets and 3,100 likes.
“Do you see this? This is the Kandadji dam in construction in Niger. I will tell all the noisy, arrogant and ignorant Nigerians who spend all their time on X saying that Niger doesn’t add any value to Nigeria nor to ECOWAS……,” the tweet was captioned.
Verification
The image was subjected to a Reverse Image Search using Tineye, and 44 results were obtained, including the image appearing on Shutterstock, an American company that provides stock photography.
The result stated that the image was first found on Shutterstock. A check on Shutterstock showed that the image was captioned “Dam Wall.” Michael Potter11 shot the image, which was published on September 24, 2012.
While the company did not state where the dam is located, a further Google search revealed that it is the Gariep dam in South Africa.
Pictures of Gariep Dam found on the X account of the South African Government, Flickr, and Alamy have features similar to those of Shutterstock.
Other results showed that the image is widely used on the internet to accompany topics associated with dams, including news stories, here, here and here, that have to do with reporting on dams.
Conclusion on Claim 1
The image is not the Kandadji dam but a stock picture from Shutterstock; while the Kandadji dam has yet to be completed, the photo shows a functioning dam.
Claim 2: Did Nigeria sign an agreement with Niger to discourage construction of dams along the Niger River in 2020?
Verdict: Misleading.
Full Text
As part of the tweet, Traore claimed Nigeria signed an agreement in 2020 not to construct a dam on the River Niger.
“In July 2020, the Nigerian presidency under @MBuhari signed electricity power export agreements with Niger to discourage construction of dams along the Niger River. So, what happened? They signed the agreements, and this is why Nigeria is exporting electricity to Niger,” he tweeted.
Verification
A keyword search on Google search engine on “Nigeria signed an agreement with Niger not to dam river Niger.” brought news stories by Daily Trust and Vanguard Newspapers.
The stories, which were published in July 2020, quoted a statement by Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to former President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, in clarifying the electricity debt Niger, Togo and Benin owed Nigeria.
Mallam Shehu, in a statement, said Nigeria was exporting electricity to the countries due to a bilateral agreement for them not to construct a dam on the River Niger as it is the source of power to Nigeria’s Kainji, Shiroro and Jebba dams.
He said the agreement was reviewed in 2019.
While it could not be established when Nigeria signed the agreement for Niger not to dam the river, the countries have been managing conflict that may arise through the Niger Basin Authority and the first agreement was made in 1963, with further agreements and reviews done in 1964, 1980 and 2008.
Conclusion on Claim 2
The claim that Nigeria signed an agreement with Niger not to dam the River Niger in 2020 is misleading. The first agreement that established the authority was made in 1963 with subsequent reviews, with the latest being in 2019.
This report is produced for the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking Fellowship in partnership with Daily Trust Newspaper to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in Nigeria.
