New travel rules target Niger’s top officials under Sonko’s administration

Niger’s Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has rolled out stringent new travel regulations for government ministers and directors-general of state-owned enterprises, aiming to curb excessive overseas missions.

Stricter oversight on official travel

The Prime Minister revealed that ministerial travel requests are now subject to near-automatic blocking, while directors-general previously operated with minimal oversight. Sonko highlighted inconsistencies in travel approvals, stating, « I now automatically block most ministerial travel requests. For directors-general, however, oversight has been inconsistent—they often defer to their respective supervisory ministries. »

An internal audit of the past three months exposed alarming patterns: several directors-general spent between 15 and 30 days abroad during a 90-day period. « When I reviewed the reports, I was stunned to find that some officials were overseas for nearly a third of the quarter, » Sonko remarked.

Reforms to streamline travel approvals

To address these discrepancies, the Prime Minister announced a sweeping reform of the foreign travel validation process. Moving forward, all overseas missions by directors-general will require direct approval from his office. « This system will be corrected immediately, » he declared. « From now on, directors-general must seek my authorization before any international travel. »