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Niger |
ECONOMY
Faced with the lamentable state of the nation, a giant step in awareness and a new policy by the Bretton Woods Institutions will be necessary
Today, it is quite common to read in the world press large headlines such as: «Efforts at Development in the Third World» or such and such an African country’s «Economic Growth» or perhaps «The Miraculous Remedies», to explain the sad conditions imposed unilaterally by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in their efforts to help African countries in their struggle against underdevelopment. But an African, living in Africa and experiencing the harsh realities of daily life, will feel a deep sense of frustration. For at the end of the day, all those statistics which are published worldwide, all those grandiose theoretical projects are a pack of lies and pure nonsense.
Imagine that one of those technocrats who is busy with his files on the Third World comes to one of our countries and experiences in detail the harsh realities of those areas. What would he find in a country like Niger, which is in the grip of a precarious social and economic situation?
Development indicators
Niger is an immense territory of 1,287,000 sq. km of which three-quarters is unfortunately almost desert. Only about 12% of the land is cultivatable. Population density is 7.3 per square kilometre. This density is as low as 0.3 in an area like Agadez in the north of the country which occupies 600,000 sq. km. The whole country is land-locked, the nearest port being more than 1,000 km from the capital, Niamey. The total population is estimated today at ten million with population growth at nearly 3.2% -– one of the highest in the world. The majority of the population is young: 45% are under fifteen years of age.
In terms of human development, Niger is classified among the least advanced in the world. It is one of those zones declared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to be «unable to produce enough food». Nearly 80% of the population lives in rural areas.
The poverty rate of the population of this country is estimated at 63%. According to a report by the World Bank in June 1996, «63% of the population (6.5 million people) are poor and 34% (3.8 million) extremely poor. Because of the proportion of the total population living in rural areas, 86% of the poor are rural. Among this rural population 66% are poor and 36% are extremely poor. In urban areas 52% are poor and 26% are extremely poor...» In some outlying areas of the capital, the monthly income of a family of ten persons is estimated to be 10,000 CFA francs (i.e.100 FF)!
As regards education, the situation is hardly brilliant. It is commonly admitted that for a country to be launched in the processes of development, the level of schooling should reach 40%. Niger has not yet reached 32% and hopes that by the end of 2000 it will have reached 35%. This level of schooling is the lowest in the whole of West Africa. On the other hand, more than 80% of the population is illiterate -– a real brake on progress.
The health situation is no better. The indicators observed in Niger are clearly below the norms fixed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Thus, «Niger had only one doctor for 62,606 inhabitants in 1995 and one maternity and child care centre for 28,000 children. Only 33% of women can avail of prenatal care, 14% give birth with the help of a professional midwife. The rate of vaccination is very low. Only 14.4% of children between one and two are vaccinated».
Widespread poverty naturally gives rise to social unrest with many protests by confused young people. Since 1990, there’s been ongoing go-slow strikes by public servants and protest marches by students. At the time of writing, civil servants have 12-month arrears in their salaries. As a consequence, this has led to a deep rupture in the social fabric and lack of a sense of social cohesion based on real solidarity. Very many students have not yet received their student grants for 30 months.
What are the causes?
Who is responsible? Where does the extreme impoverishment of various levels of society in this country come from? The chronic instability which the country has experienced in the last twenty years, has been a major handicap to social and economic progress. Between 1974 and 1999 there have been seven or eight successful or attempted coups d’etat, or on average, a social and political upheaval every two or three years. We must admit that the hiatus of the National Sovereign Conference which took place in 1991, scarcely succeeded in bringing about the new climate which the people ardently desired. On the contrary, it led to the opening of another Pandora’s box which released on the country other evils such as tribalism, favouritism, social exclusion, clannishness and bias and sometimes, alas, the promotion of scarcely suitable people to high office. Yes, bad government and embezzlement of public funds in the obnoxious atmosphere of corruption, has seriously obstructed social and economic progress in Niger.
However, it’s only fair to be just and clear in pin-pointing «those who are guilty». Bad government alone does not explain the confusion among Niger’s people. For some years now, our country has been a victim of the dictates imposed by the Bretton Woods Institutions (i.e. The World Bank and the IMF). Niger, like other poor countries, has been trapped with no rescue in sight. For almost ten years, great macro-economic theories have been bandied about, on the necessity of adopting Structural Adjustment Programmes. But the reality remains always the same — the people are caught up in a process of negative growth!
Referring to Niger’s plight, technocrats outside the country say: «You must do all you can to honour your commitments, in particular the payment of your external debt which is already very heavy for a country like yours. It’s one of our conditions for helping you take advantage of other facilities in the future. But that’s not enough. You’ve got to make drastic cuts in the already high cost of civil servants’ salaries by stopping all new recruiting, even if it has to be admitted that your country is already short of trained people in every area. Instead of recruiting teachers who are trained and suitable for primary and secondary schools, it would be better to engage volunteers who receive a monthly pittance for the same work done by professionals! Of course the quality of education will suffer, but in the end, it’s for us an unavoidable economic measure. Then comes the immediate privatisation of all large state enterprises which involves sacking a third or more of the personnel. Once you’ve done all that, you’ll be able to pay off your external debt».
That, in brief, is how the average citizen understands the esoteric language of the IMF‘s new economic theory. Nobody will convince him that these are truly measures to save the country’s economic development. The IMF is insisting that a country like Niger which doesn’t have much by way of a viable economy, must learn to manage its affairs according to well-defined rules and criteria. And the same goes for all the economies of sub-Saharan Africa in the same situation.
What’s to be done?
Is it possible to opt out and live in self-sufficiency? What kind of self-sufficiency is needed for a country that is dependent and poor?
In our country it is the custom to reduce everything to politics. Indeed, the people of Niger were ecstatic about the «free and democratic elections of December 1999». It was a panacea, a sesame which would open all the paradises of the world. It was legitimately a cause of great satisfaction. However, it must be admitted that «free, honest and democratic elections» are not enough to raise an economy.
The people of Niger themselves must begin to be seriously aware of the lamentable state of the nation. A leap in collective awareness is needed. Do we or don’t we want to adopt a firm resolve to get out of the mess. Are we ready to acknowledge our situation and face up to the major challenges which are before us.
Niger, like other countries facing the same challenges, obviously cannot save itself alone. We think that to a great extent, international relations hold the key to the mystery. Globalisation, of which so much is heard in our day, can only be true in a complete sense: the destiny of poor nations is closely linked with that of rich nations, for the world is one, and any disequilibrium on one side of the planet will necessarily provoke an upheaval in the whole. In that way, to help poor countries to emerge from their misery is to help oneself and give new hope to the world.
Concretely, that means a radical change and a completely new orientation for international financial institutions. The idea of a Marshall Plan for Africa is a likely avenue to be explored, for the ruins caused by misery may easily be compared to those caused by two world wars.
In fact, African countries, taken individually, cannot manage any kind of economic take-off in their present situation. Poverty and misery have reached a depth that is unimaginable in other parts of the world, and such a state of dilapidation is not capable of creating the minimal conditions for a collective effort to bring about progress.
Niger happens to be among the group of countries which appear to have been abandoned on the world scene. And yet, would one not be tempted to speak of immense capacities and possibilities; of broken dreams; of ambitions nipped in the bud; programs not undertaken; vast areas not exploited? Niger is expecting from the rich world, a reform of its conditions to launch itself in a real development program.
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