I'm getting the error "[Steamworks.NET] SteamAPI_Init() failed. Refer to Valve's documentation or the comment above this line for more information."
Make sure the Steam client is running on your computer as it is needed to get current player data, friends list, etc.
Also make sure that the logged in account has the game you want to test
steamLeaderboards.GetCurrentLeaderboardGlobalAroundUser(-5, 5) does not return any records (is always returning null)
The most likely cause is that the player has no score submitted on the leaderboard. You can check if the player has a score by accessing Steamworks.