Back from Niamey, Niger: Time to leave the last place….
Back from Niamey, Niger: Time to leave the last place….
Niamey, Niger, stands as a testament to unexpected progress and potential. Despite being ranked among the least developed nations worldwide and its status as the fourth-largest producer of uranium, Niger’s journey from 2001 to 2012 showed little change beyond the construction of a new bridge in the capital in 2011. However, my return in December 2013 unveiled a nation on the brink of transformation. Niamey, the heart of Niger, had begun to rewrite its narrative, shedding its past for a promising future of development and investment opportunities.
December 2013, I went back to Niger and my first impression was: what happened to this country? In a year, I have seen more changes than in 10 years! With a big smile on my face, I started rediscover the capital and I was positively surprised to see all the infrastructure projects taking place.
Private and foreign investors are now seeing that being ranked last in global development indices doesn’t inherently limit a country’s potential for growth. With a pretty stable political environment, Niger is like a newborn country where everything needs to be done. What’s an opportunity for investors! The country needs roads, highways, bridges, supermarkets, movie theaters, hotels, hospitals, everything!
If big infrastructure projects are the responsibility of Niger government, there is still a place for young investors (why not national investors?) on the retail market. With only three supermarkets in the capital, not often responding to customers’ demands in terms of quality and needs, a lot of profitable investment can be done on this segment.
At a first look, infrastructure and retail are the two markets you think of for investing in Niger. But the country also needs sanitary investments, private or public, to respond to the lack of performing measures to save lives. Niger has very qualified doctors but they don’t have adequate equipment to practice. The country is also exposed to a serious problem of electricity, which can easily be resolved by large investment in solar energy as the country is extremely exposed to sun during the twelve months of the year. The government started in this way, with using solar energy for public lightning, but there is still a large place for new investments, especially private investments.
China was the first country to realize the bunch of opportunities in Niger, and now they are collaborating in order to develop the country in a win-win partnership: infrastructure, oil, retail, etc.
With the beginning of oil production, and soon its exportation via the pipeline Niger-Chad-Cameroon, the renegotiation of uranium’s contract with Areva, the country will be subject to consequent money’s entry, far more that what it usually gets. Thinking about the strategic development plan made by authorities and approved and supported by international financial institutions, all the fifty and plus conventions signed between the government and foreign investors, Niger is expecting to rise in the West African landscape as a solid economic system in the 10 coming years.
The country is a real construction site, which gives hope for young population in a better future, changing its face from the poorest country in the world to a growing economy.
Gaïcha SADDY, Analyst, Infomineo
