Pathways to Fairer Africa-West Business Partnership

by Collins Nweke

At first glance, it may seem like another anti-Western move. The recent nationalisation of the Somair uranium mine by Niger’s military-led government is causing concern. It occurs in a turbulent post-coup environment. But viewed more deeply, it is emblematic of a long-overdue structural realignment. In many ways, it is a clarion call for a recalibration of business relations between Western economies and African states. This is not a zero-sum game. Rather, it is an opportunity for win-win partnerships. A partnership that embraces fairness, transparency, and shared prosperity is an imperative of our time in history.

For over five decades, France’s state-linked nuclear giant, Orano, operated uranium mines in Niger. They did so under agreements that many locals and independent observers considered unequal. Niger supplies about 4% of the world’s uranium and has been a key supplier to France’s nuclear energy infrastructure. Yet paradoxically, Niger ranks among the world’s poorest countries, with its citizens seeing little tangible benefit from this strategic resource.

What Niger’s leaders are doing, albeit through controversial political means, is asserting economic sovereignty. They are also rejecting post-colonial asymmetries that continue to define much of Africa’s engagement with the West. They are not alone. From Mali to Burkina Faso and beyond, a pattern is emerging across Francophone and Anglophone Africa alike. There is a demand to reconfigure not just who profits from African wealth. It also addresses how those profits are structured and reinvested.

Why Recalibration Benefits both sides

Fairer partnerships unlock deeper trust, longer-term investments, and more sustainable outcomes. This culminates in economic stability and mutual growth. Africa offers vast growth potential in not just in resources, but in human capital, green energy, and innovation. Western firms gain access to emerging markets; African economies gain jobs, technology transfer, and infrastructure.

Amid rising competition from China, Russia, and Gulf states, the West must aim for geo-economic balance. It must rethink its traditional approach. Clinging to outdated patron-client frameworks only fuels resentment and opens the door for geopolitical rivals. Embracing equity enhances the West’s soft power and safeguards its strategic interests.

Inequitable contracts breed local grievances, undermine governance, and destabilize societies. Recent history is replete with instability occasioned by resentment of the West’s paternalistic strategies, albeit disguised. Win-win economic models mitigate conflict risks and support regional peace and prosperity.

A Pathway to Fairer, Recalibrated Relations

Having lived and worked in both Africa and the West over the past four decades, there are five actionable steps I believe could guide a recalibrated partnership:

Renegotiate legacy contracts transparently
Many current contracts stem from colonial or post-independence periods when negotiating leverage was skewed. Western companies must engage in good faith renegotiations that respect host country interests, with public disclosure and community consultation.

Embed value addition locally
Africa must no longer export raw resources while importing finished products at exorbitant cost. Western businesses should support local refining, processing, and industrialization. Investments must now shift from extraction to the entire value chains.

Prioritize skills transfer and local content
Joint ventures must mandate the training of local professionals. They should integrate SMEs. There should be upward mobility for national staff. This prevents brain drain and builds self-reliant economies.

Support African-led development frameworks
Partnerships should align with continental visions like the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and national development strategies. That means investing where Africa wants to go, not where external actors wish it to remain.

Institutionalize economic diplomacy and corporate accountability
African governments should set up sovereign negotiating bodies with legal and economic expertise. Western governments, in turn, must hold their corporations accountable for unethical practices abroad.

Toward a New Social Contract

At the heart of this conversation is a need for a new moral and economic contract. We need a deal that does not frame Africa as a beneficiary of Western benevolence. It should present Africa as an equal co-architect of global prosperity.

If the West does not adapt, others, less scrupulous, will fill the vacuum. They are more attuned to the language of respect and reciprocity. If it listens to Africa, it can become a valuable partner. By collaborating on Africa’s terms, it can help unlock one of the great engines of 21st-century development. The time of resource extraction without reinvestment is over. In its place must rise a new model: equitable, ethical, and enduring. It is not too late to move from the ruins of resentment to the building blocks of renewal. The Somair mine saga is not the end of a relationship. It can be a chance to rewrite the terms of engagement.