Do you mean Niger or Nigeria? Its two separate places.
Niger has uranium mines. They used to be French owned, maybe they still are. (Just a guess but those mines probably have rare earth elements associated with them too!)
We’re also in Somalia, though it is rarely mentioned... Somalia likewise has uranium mines and a recently discovered source of more uranium.
Niger...sorry...
Too many Islamists groups in Africa....either we control them there by teaching the people to fight them or fight them here.
Niger doesn’t offer enough rare earth elements that we can’t get from other areas....the idea is to keep other nations fro acquiring their control.