Did the Prime Minister of Niger harshly criticize Bulgaria as a failure, a country that turned its land into a lunar landscape, and one that imports garbage and exports brains and blood? No, that's not true: Neither the current Prime Minister of Niger Ali Lamine Zeine, nor his predecessor Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, have made public remarks about Bulgaria or the Bulgarian people so far.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on November 5, 2023 with the following caption, translated into English from Bulgarian by Lead Stories staff that reads:
Comment by the Prime Minister of Niger, citing Bulgaria as a catastrophic example:
Look at the Bulgarians, they import everything. If they rule the Sahara, they will import sand. They managed to turn their land from a garden paradise into a lunar landscape. They import garbage and export brains and blood. That's where the poor, common people robbed by the system, have to financially support their vulnerable fellow citizens. With a population of five million, their gross debt is 35 billion euros. Let's tighten up and not be like the Bulgarians. Let's not give our natural resources to foreign companies. Let's manufacture our own goods. Let's cultivate every inch of land. Let's increase our herds. Let's teach our men military skills. Let's have our women give birth to more children. Let's teach our children to be patriots."
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Nov 14 19:51:37 2023 UTC)
An identical claim has circulated on Facebook posts here, here, here, and here to suggest Bulgaria faces a catastrophic list of issues that were highlighted by a politician from Niger, which has itself faced critical challenges. The Bulgarian language posts circulating since August 2023 claim the Prime Minister of Niger issued his harsh criticism of Bulgaria "yesterday" without providing evidence of a source.
A Google News Index search using the terms "Niger" and "Bulgaria" in English and "le Niger" and "la Bulgarie" in French, a language commonly spoken in Niger, reveals no such statement regarding Bulgaria by an official from Niger in the past year.
Niger's new Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, appointed on August 8, 2023, recently discussed dialogue with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and rejected any foreign pressure on the military-led transition. He also spoke about the effects of ECOWAS sanctions and Nigeria's role as a mediator after the coup.
The former Prime Minister of Niger, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou's official statements have primarily focused on the political situation in Niger, the coup in July 2023, and the importance of defending democracy in West Africa.
No credible sources support the claim that either the incumbent or the previous Prime Ministers of Niger have ever mentioned Bulgaria or its people in their official communications
