July 10 marked the 100th day in office of President Mohamed Bazoum of the Republic of Niger and most people in the country believe he has achieved more in 100 days than the former government did in 10 years.
Bazoum’s inauguration on April 2 was the first democratic transition of power in a country that has had four military coups since its independence from France in 1960.
He had worked for years as the right-hand man to his predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou, who served two terms, in accordance with Niger’s constitution.
The men’s friendship has been long and close. But Bazoum was quoted as saying: “I will not walk in Issoufou’s footsteps.”
His promise when he took office was to make education and security a priority and to tackle corruption.
He is known for promoting education, particularly for girls, who are often forced into marriage in their early teens and then start having children themselves. He said the fertility rate in the country was about seven children per woman.
With education and access to reproductive health, “we are going to reduce the fertility rate. We will get results within 10 years,” Bazoum said in an interview with the AFP news agency.
He said Niger schools had high dropout rates, with only about 25% finishing their studies.
But, with all his good intentions, the going has not been easy for him. Since the election that saw him take power, there have been terror attacks on Niger’s civilian population in the western border regions with Mali and Burkina Faso.
He has taken on one of the toughest jobs – leading a deeply poor country that has been battling extremist insurgencies for years.
However, he has ruled out any dialogue with the militants, even though one of his main priorities is to stabilise the country.
All of the citizens who spoke to RNI expressed satisfaction with the way in which Bazoum was leading Niger.
Babagana Bulama Ganzara, a resident of Diffa, told RNI reporter Rukaiya Ahmed Alibe that the people are grateful to the Almighty Allah for the work the president is doing.
He said people believed the president had done more for the country in the first 100 days than the previous government had done in 10 years, noting that he had made “great strides towards transforming Niger, especially in the areas of agriculture and the resettlement of internally displaced persons within and outside the country”.
He praised the president for trying to make it secure for the many fishermen in Niger to return to Lake Chad so that they could resume their trade in safety.
Ganzara said there was still a need for more sophisticated tools to develop the agricultural sector but he was certain Bazoum would help farmers when he could.
Hajja Kura, who also lives in Diffa, said she believed in the new president.
“He won’t let us down. He stands in solidarity with the poor.”
She said that the president would not do anything that would upset his people and “that is what makes him stand out among all other presidents the country has had”.
Mamman, another Diffa resident, said the people in Niger are “happy with the president as he celebrates 100 days”.
