[BUG] Node 8.9.4 is installed but npm not working

[denzelWashington]

I'm getting the same problem too.
I have node 8.9.4 installed but when i run in jenkinsfile npm -v , im getting this error

TypeError: Cannot destructure property `stat` of 'undefined' or 'null'.
    at Object.<anonymous> (***********************/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/node-gyp/lib/index.js:2:29)
    at Module._compile (module.js:643:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:654:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:556:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:499:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:491:3)
    at Module.require (module.js:587:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:11:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (**********************/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/run-script/lib/run-script-pkg.js:4:55)
    at Module._compile (module.js:643:30)
**********************************/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/config/lib/index.js:163
      throw new Error('call config.load() before reading values')

i have downgraded npm to npm@latest-6 but doesn't work for me

[ljharb]

npm 7 requires node 10, so on node 8, you can't run npm install -g npm. At this point you probably have to reinstall node itself.

If you're using nvm, you can use nvm install-latest-npm to avoid this; otherwise atm you'd have to know to run npm install -g npm@6.

[ljharb]

Actually, closing this in favor of #2623.