UCLG COUNTRY PROFILES
Republic of Niger
(République du Niger)
Capital: Niamey
Inhabitants: 13.957.000 (2005)
Area: 1.267.000 km²
1. Introduction - Strengthened and sustainable
economic governance
- Strengthened and effective local
governance
- Strengthened human and institutional
capacity
- Strengthened and sustainable
administrative governance
Like other black African countries with
Niger is a country situated in the heart of French heritage, Niger has had a heavily
the Sahel in West Africa. The majority of centralised State since independence.
the country is made up of desert. It covers Decentralisation was adopted by Law No.
an area of 1,267,000 km² and shares 61/30 of 31 December 1961, which
borders with Libya, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria, brought about the creation of local
Burkina Faso and Mali. Niger has a authorities, and Law No. 64/023 of 17 July
population of 13,230,000 with an annual 1964, which brought about the creation of
growth rate of 0.9%. The gross national administrative constituencies, and included
product (GNP) per inhabitant is estimated local authorities themselves in the
at $865. framework of State centralisation. The
current decentralisation process resulting
After the coup d’état in April 1999, a new from the national conference which took
Constitution was voted in and general place July-November 1991 is a response to
elections were organised at the end of federalist demands from the armed
1999, which brought the country into the rebellion that Niger underwent.
5th Republic. The Poverty Reduction
Strategy Document (DSRP), which was
developed in 2000, set out in Strategic 2. Territorial structure
Issue No. 4 “the promotion of good
governance, strengthening human and The Republic of Niger has three levels of
institutional capacity and decentralisation”, decentralisation: regions, departments
and the expected results of this were: (sub-provinces) and municipalities. In
reality, the only functioning local
- Strengthened and sustainable political authorities are municipalities.
governance
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Regions were introduced as the highest from each of the member
level, based on the areas that previously municipalities: these delegates are
came under the seven former departments elected from municipal councillors in
and the urban community of Niamey, each municipality; the number of
which were granted legal status as regions delegates per municipality depends on
(local authority and administrative its population.
constituency). Departments, at the middle An executive body (the urban
level, are made up of former urban sub- community council leader) elected by
divisions (arondissements). Finally, its delegate peers. Two deputy leaders
municipalities cover areas and customary are elected at the same time.
entities which were administrative units in
settled agricultural areas and nomadic
groups in pastoral areas. The entire 3. Local democracy
country falls under the municipality
system. Following many delays, local elections were
finally organised on 24 and 25 July 2004.
The resulting administrative map shows 8 The voting process was carried through
regions (the urban community of Niamey is without incident across the country. These
classed as a region), 36 departments at elections led to 3,747 municipal councillors
the middle level, and a network of being selected. In nearly all the poling
municipalities at the bottom level; this stations, the voting process began and
includes a total of 265 municipalities: 213 ended at the times indicated. The turnout
at the rural level and 52 in urban areas, rate was 43.56%.
according to a classification scheme set out
by the law. Five nomadic groups in settled The United Nation’s National Elections
areas have been attributed to Observatory and the Coordination of
municipalities. Observers, governed by UNDP, all felt that
the municipal elections had been free,
In addition to the urban community of honest and transparent. The main
Niamey, three other urban communities problems that occurred related to practical
have been created in Maradi, Tahoua and issues: in the first instance there was a
Zinder. They have been given: poor level of organisation in distributing
polling cards. Another issue was the
A deliberative body (urban community absence of political party delegates in
council) made up of delegates sent certain polling stations, and electoral
Table 1: Decentralised structure
Administrative Deliberative Executive bodies Decentralised trusteeship
divisions bodies body
Type No.
Regional Council
Regions 8 Regional Council Governor
Leader
Department Department
Departments 36 Prefect
Council Council Leader
Urban Urban Community Urban Community
4 Governor
Communities Council Council Leader
Prefect and governor for
Municipalities 265 Municipal Council Mayor member municipalities of
urban communities
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procedures were not properly managed by and deputies from the area, who are
certain polling station members. In non-elected councillors
addition to this were the difficulties
encountered due to lack of the geographic Apart from the ex officio members,
definition of municipalities. councillors are elected by universal direct
suffrage in a free and secret vote by list
One of the reasons for the transparency of ballot by proportional representation
the ballot was the fact that the electoral according to the highest majority rule.
process is organised and coordinated by a
national independent electoral commission Legal documentation in Niger tends to give
(CENI), which looks after the electoral an accurate picture of the socio-political
census, management of the electoral roll reality of the electorate.
and the organisation, procedure and
supervision of electoral and referendum Although for a long time women in Niger
operations. This commission is were restricted to simply being voting
independent from all powers or authorities. members and coordinators within political
It enjoys autonomous management, parties, they are beginning to get involved
structure and operations. in elective and executive roles, thanks to
the Law of 7 June 2000 on quotas. This
The composition of the commission clause takes gender into consideration and
(representatives from political groups, both constitutes a very significant move
from the party in power and the opposition forward in a society where power,
and independent parties, various technical particularly at the local level, is still largely
ministers, members of civil society, as well considered to be solely attributed to men.
as representatives from human rights The law requires political parties in
organisations, unions, traditional electoral contests to grant at least 10% of
chiefdoms, etc.) is also a gauge of this the candidacies for elective mandates to
transparency. It is chaired by a judge whichever gender has the lowest level of
selected by his/her peers. representation, and at least 25% of posts
when appointing high-level State
Municipalities have two authority bodies: a positions.
deliberative body (municipal council), and
executive body composed of the mayor The application of this law resulted in many
and one or two deputies, assisted by at women becoming involved in municipal
least two specialist commissions. councils. Of the 3,747 seats available for
all 265 municipalities at the 2004 elections,
Municipal councils are the deliberative women obtained 661, which is around
bodies in municipalities. This is an 17%. However, the sociocultural
assembly elected by the population of the significance of the different communities in
municipality, and is in charge of managing Niger means that women are not well
the municipality’s affairs. The number of represented within executive bodies,
municipal elected councillors ranges from particularly in the role of mayor. There are
11 to 25. There are two types of municipal currently 5 female mayors.
council members:
elected members with decision-making In addition, the Law (2002-012) makes
powers, elected for four years provision for traditional chiefdoms to be
included in local institutional plans by
members who have advisory capacity:
making traditional chiefs ex officio
leaders of community groups and
members with advisory capacity within the
administrative units, provincial leaders
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various decision-making bodies of local dispute. According to Article 4 of Decree
authorities. The same is true for deputies: 99-033, the adjudicator’s decision must be
Law 2002-02 states that deputies are made within two months of receiving the
entitled to join the municipal council. The return mail from the decentralised
same law states that deputies who are not authority stating that it refuses to delay or
elected members of the municipal council modify the incriminated action, or four
are ex officio members of the municipal months from the date of the request to
council and have advisory capacity. delay or modify the action if no action has
been taken. In addition, the State
representative can put forward a request
4. Relations between central and to suspend the act being carried out before
local authorities the judge.
Nigerien law provides for decisions made However, we must note that this control
by local authorities to come into immediate mechanism is often purely theoretical,
effect. State representatives have control because prefects and their representatives
over the a posteriori legality of the actions often lack the responsibilities and powers
of municipal authorities. allowing them to go beyond this. This is
one of the current difficulties in exercising
The State’s trusteeship over decentralised control over legality. Another issue is the
authorities is carried out through its lack of administrative courts set out by the
representatives to ensure control of law. The existing ordinary courts do not
legality. It has control over: have the necessary powers, in most cases.
This is why the State, with support from
- the actions of decentralised development partners, has developed an
authorities: decisions made by the extensive programme to give support to
municipal councils, decrees passed by reforming the judicial system (Programme
the mayor d’Appui à la Réforme du système Judiciaire
– PARJ), which is starting to be put into
- local authority budgets: Law 2002-012
effect at the moment.
sets out the various methods of
budgetary control
Budgetary control relates to format
- authority bodies and staff (structure, nomenclature), registering
mandatory expenditure (personnel, debt
In the absence of a sub-prefect in repayments, fees to maintain assets, etc.)
municipalities, control is provisionally and operational and investment budgets
undertaken by the prefects. Trusteeship and balances (actual revenue, actual
relates to all actions taken by local expenditure).
authorities that come into full effect as
soon as they are published or the parties At the end of each year, authorities also
concerned have been informed and they send their administrative and financial
are transmitted to the State accounts to the State Audit Office to check.
representative.
The law clearly provides for the process for
The State representative can ask that disbanding municipal councils. When it is
actions it considers illegal be delayed or no longer possible for a council to operate,
amended. When decentralised authorities the government can, following consultation
refuse to do so, it can refer them to the with the Constitutional Court, disband a
administrative court, which settles the council by decree taken at the Ministers
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Council, the deliberative body of the State for the implementation of these
authority in question. In this instance, the funds.
State representative with power at this
level replaces the council to deal with the The law provides for the State to transfer
day-to-day matters until a new council is taxes to local authorities. In this way, the
put in place by means of an election. State gives municipalities all or part of
taxes and remunerative duties that they
In addition, the trusteeship authority can are required to collect on the State’s behalf
suspend council leaders (mayors, etc.). In when all or part of the services that the
this way, when a council decides to taxes or duties relate to are carried out by
suspend its leader due to evident them.
misconduct or gross negligence with a
majority of 2/3 elected members, the State There are also shared taxes, where local
representative draws up a document to authorities generally receive the congruent
make it official. Up until this point there amount. This is the case for the new
have been a few instances of mayors being budget law, which, for certain types of
suspended (3 or 4). revenue, affects 80% of the State budget
and 20% of local authority budgets.
Councils can create remunerative duties,
5. Financing for local authorities which pay for a service carried out by the
region, department or municipality that is
Municipalities in Niger generally have two at the personal and exclusive benefit of the
sources of funding: allocations from the taxpayer. The service can be mandatory or
State and taxes. optional. The law grants municipal councils
the possibility of adding tax surcharges to
With regard to State allocations, the law State charges and taxes, the lists and
does not specify a set amount in the State maximum rate of which are determined by
budget. There have also been delays in law. But collection of the tax surcharges on
implementing these allocations. Studies State charges and taxes is carried out at
have been commissioned by the High the same time as the main tax or charge.
Commission for the Modernisation of the The amount is transferred directly to the
Table 2: Local finances in 2003
Baseline indicators (in up to 50- 100,000 More than Niamey Niger
CFA francs) 50,000 inh inh. 100,000 inh.
Local operational 1,746 1,332 1,302 4,671 2,665
revenue per inhab
Tax revenue per inhab 906 840 860 3,088 1,702
Municipal charges per 11 30 34 187 86
inhab
Tax revenue / Actual 52% 63% 66% 66% 64%
operational revenue
Personnel costs / 33% 36% 33% 21% 25%
Operational revenue
Savings capital capacity 15% 8% 8% 6% 8%
Facilities expenditure / 621 285 403 2,966 1,388
inhab
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municipality. The table below outlines the
structure of local budgetary resources, but As regions and departments (local
fiscal resources mix those that come from authorities) have not yet been put in place,
shared taxes with autonomous taxes, the we have indicated the responsibilities and
rates of which are low. powers of municipalities in the table above.
Also, most of the developments that will
follow only relate to municipalities.
Source (Observatory on Local Finances –
PDM). The indicators are in CFA francs. Aside from essential services, many
responsibilities and powers of local
Overall, the collection rate for local authorities were transferred by means of
revenue is still below the necessary level to legal documentation, which dates back to
cover the needs of municipalities. It rarely before the present reform.
goes above 32%. There are many reasons
for this poor collection rate: the lack of
sense of civic responsibility in terms of
fiscal issues, the lack of an adequate 7. Local staff management
collection method, carelessness of
employees, corruption, influence peddling, The illiteracy level of the majority of
poor management of the allocation councillors, at a general level, the lack of
transferred back by the directorate of taxes training of all locally elected
(DGI), the lack of market infrastructure, representatives and the impossibility for
the lack of initiative to seek funding and municipalities to look after their own
poor financial management. technical services in the mid-term has long
given executives from decentralised
technical services, and from support
6. Local responsibilities and projects and programmes, great influence
powers over municipal decisions, particularly in
relation to investment. As a result, local
Law 2002-013 of 11 June 2002 is authorities have experienced reduced
dedicated to transferring responsibilities autonomy.
and powers to local authorities. These are
many responsibilities and powers and they The most important civil servants are the
are diverse in nature. Secretary General at the regional,
departmental and urban community levels,
The Nigerien legislature provides for and the tax collector. However, local
responsibilities and powers to be authorities have the power to create
transferred in blocks. However, all services and local public establishments,
responsibilities and powers have not yet and can take on other personnel to take
been transferred from the State to local charge of leading these services or
authority beneficiaries. At a general level, establishments. The functions of the
responsibilities and powers relating to Secretary General and the tax collector are
defining regional development policies and incompatible.
their coherence with national policies are
assigned to regions; departments have The Secretary General is appointed by
responsibilities and powers over decree from regional, departmental or
implementation and coordination and urban community council leaders or from
municipalities are responsible for essential the mayor, following discussions with the
services relating to their area. council, from the civil administrators whose
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qualifications are equal to civil service band the council’s fund and managing money
A. and assets placed in their fund.
In rural municipalities, where there are no In order to deal with the severe lack of
civil administrators at this level, an Human Resources, in terms of both
administrator with qualifications that quantity and quality, within local
correspond to civil service band B can be authorities, the law provides for the State’s
appointed as Secretary General. decentralised technical services to be made
available to local authorities.
The Secretary General attends local council
meetings, where he/she represents the Thus, in addition to their traditional role
secretariat. The Secretary General comes and using the human and material
under the authority of the local executive resources available to them, the State’s
body and is the hierarchical leader of decentralised services have the task of
administrative and technical staff of the giving backing to, advising and supporting
authority in question. In this way, he/she local authorities. In this way, in order to
is in charge of monitoring and coordinating achieve their goals, local level authorities
technical services, monitoring financial and their entities have the right to request
management of facilities and personnel, to benefit from the State decentralised
giving support and acting as an advisor. In technical services whose responsibilities
addition, he/she assists the local executive and powers relate to them. In concrete
body in preparing the budget, the terms, when local authorities and their
administrative account and all other entities request these benefits, they submit
ongoing management activities, and in a request to the State representative for
implementing of the budget. this support to be at their disposal
accompanied by their annual activities
The tax collector’s duties are completely programme, including the actual actions to
separate from the role of accountant or carry out and what they require the
specialist agent of the State. The tax requested help with.
collector carries out the role of public
accounting officer at local authority level. This request is considered in the first two
He/she is appointed by decree from the months of the budget being operational
regional, departmental or municipal council during a scheduling meeting, where the
leader, following consultation with the State representative and the council leader
council, from the local authority’s financial set out and agree the activities that the
officials or agents who are specialised in State’s decentralised technical services
public accounting or public administration must lead on behalf of the authority in
and whose qualifications are equal to those question. It also includes the methods of
of civil service band B. The tax collector operation, the nature of the work, the
has the position of main accountant. length of time they will be available, details
on the required means and resources, a
In this way, tax collectors are authorised to workload calendar and all other duties of
carry out collection of money and payment each party. Once this has taken place, the
of expenditure relating to the regional, heads of the State’s decentralised services
departmental and municipal budgets. They provide local authorities in their area of
help the leaders of their respective council responsibility all the reports, information,
with revenue collection. They have sole statistics, studies and documentation
responsibility for material management of necessary to prepare and carry out their
discussions, actions and decisions.
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8. Conclusion
The organisation of the 24 and 25 July
2004 municipal elections marked a decisive
step forwards for democracy in general,
and decentralisation in particular, in Niger.
More than thirty political parties and
independent candidate groups were
involved in the ballot.
Since 2005, the High Commission for the
Modernisation of the State has been
established instead of and in place of the
High Commission for Administrative
Reform and Decentralisation. Alongside the
High Council of Local Authorities’ Inter-
ministerial Committee on Decentralisation
and the Ministry for National Planning and
Community Development, the High
Commission maintains the role of its
predecessor. Consequently, the institution
is seen as a bastion in the move towards
decentralisation, and with authority status
as its goal. In this way, the High
Commission carries out research work all
the more so as attempts are still being
made to improve legislation.
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