Inside Niger’s CFPD: the 1.8 billion FCFA monthly fund that toppled a prime minister
Three men at the summit of Niger’s military government are locked in a fight over a single security mechanism, and the money attached to it reaches billions of CFA francs every month. The dispute centres on the CFPD, the Command of Protection and Development Forces, and on three figures who have staked their authority on it: CNSP head Abdourahamane Tiani, General Salifou Mody, and former finance minister and prime minister Lamine Zeine. The monthly envelope at stake is 1.8 billion FCFA.
Officially, the CFPD exists to guard Niger’s strategic assets. Behind closed doors, the struggle is being fought on three fronts: control of the personnel, control of the missions, and control of the money.
What the CFPD was created to do
On 9 May 2024, General Abdourahamane Tiani signed decree no. 2024-309/P/CNSP/MDN, which established the Command of Protection and Development Forces.
The unit is tasked with protecting the country’s strategic infrastructure and sites: mining installations, oil facilities, transport corridors and pipelines. The defence ministry confirmed the creation of a structure meant to secure strategic sites and corridors. In parallel, the recruitment of 10,000 young people during 2024 swelled the ranks of the Nigerien armed forces. The project answers a security rationale and accompanies the rising weight of the military apparatus.
How the 1.8 billion FCFA monthly bill is calculated
Article 28 of the decree sets a special duty allowance, known as the Prime Unique d’Astreinte, of at least 12,000 FCFA per man per day, while obliging the companies concerned by the security arrangement to contribute financially.
For a force of 5,000 men, the arithmetic is simple:
- Per day: 5,000 men × 12,000 FCFA = 60 million FCFA
- Per month of 30 days: 1.8 billion FCFA
- Per year: 21.9 billion FCFA
Those amounts are the financial reality of the mechanism, made concrete by the contracts signed with companies, the sums actually paid out and the troops deployed. This is the precise point on which the power struggle turns.
Defence against finance: a decree signed, then starved
General Salifou Mody pushed through the implementation of the CFPD. General Tiani signed the decree under direct pressure from his defence minister.
Once the text was signed, the CNSP head ordered finance minister Lamine Zeine to freeze the financial provisions of the CFPD. The result: the structure exists on paper but has been stripped of the means to operate. Mody’s flagship project has been hit by a direct political blockade.
Mody versus Zeine: the clash that cost a premiership
Lamine Zeine became the central point of friction. His ministry deliberately blocked the budgetary translation of the military mechanism.
In January 2026, Zeine was holding both the premiership and the economy and finance portfolio, while Salifou Mody served as minister of state for defence. Mody secured the removal of the finance portfolio from Zeine, then forced his exit from the prime minister’s office. The conflict over the CFPD destroyed trust between the pillars of the regime.
A general takes the head of government
The reshaping of power ran through Zeine’s departure. General Mody took charge of the government and imposed a single condition: to combine the posts of prime minister and defence minister. Political, military and administrative levers now sit in his hands.
Damolleydi: the second battlefield
Faced with the CFPD blockage, the regime launched the general mobilisation programme known as Damolleydi to rally volunteers and existing structures.
General Mody was placed at the head of the committee steering that mobilisation, pushing aside interior minister General Mohamed Toumba. He thus found himself leading a strategic initiative, yet deliberately slowed its rollout. The programme lost its visibility, overtaken by autonomous local structures.
The three levers that decide everything
The affair has locked the state apparatus around three axes:
- Command: control over the personnel assigned to strategic sites.
- Missions: the power to designate which infrastructure is secured and which priorities are set.
- Money: control over the contributing companies and the financial flows they generate.
Article 28 of the decree governs this financial mechanism and its 1.8 billion FCFA monthly total.
Whoever wins holds the state
The 1.8 billion FCFA figure is the direct financial stake of the system. It confirms the political dimension of the CFPD, sitting at the crossroads of strategic resources, contributing companies and the chain of command.
Beyond the rivalry between Tiani, Mody and Zeine, whoever prevails in this confrontation holds exclusive control over Niger’s men, missions and resources. Behind the personal quarrels, what is being locked down is total mastery of the state apparatus.
