The move could be part of the sanctions that Ecowas – the West African trade bloc – agreed to impose on Niger following the military coup that ousted the elected president Mohamed Bazoum a week ago. 

“Since yesterday, Nigeria has disconnected the high-voltage line transporting electricity to Niger,” a source at Nigerian Electricity Company (Nigelec) told AFP.

In addition to a one-week ultimatum to restore constitutional order and the suspension of financial transactions with Niger, Ecowas decreed the freezing of “all service transactions, including energy transactions”.

“The sanctions will hurt our country very much,” Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou said on Sunday on the French TV channel France24.

Niger depends on Nigeria for 70 per cent of its power, buying it from the Nigerian company Mainstream, the company has said. The majority of this power is generated by the Kainji Dam in western Nigeria.

The Nigelec agent indicated that the capital, Niamey...