2023-05-20 15:36:18
Winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for governance, awarded two weeks ago in Nairobi during the Mo Ibrahim Forum (Financialafrik covered the event), Nigerian Mahamadou Issoufou was celebrated on May 19 in Niamey in a packed hall in the presence of his successor, Mohamed Bazoum and influential personalities from the local politico-economic landerneau. This prize of 5 million dollars paid over ten years is awarded to heads of state who leave power in a democratic manner.
The illustrious winners are Joachim Chissano, former President of Mozambique, recipient of the 2007 edition, followed by Botswana’s Festus Mogae in 2008, Pedro Pires of Cape Verde in 2011, President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia (2014), President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from Liberia (2017) and Mahamadou Issoufou in 2021 with award ceremony in 2023.
The Mo Ibrahim Prize serves as an educational value in a continent where the stakes of conquest and preservation of power still outweigh the stakes of development.
We remember, after two five-year terms (2011-2020) at the head of Niger, President Issoufou had decided not to be a candidate for a third term in the presidential elections of December 2020, in accordance with the constitution of Niger.
Under his leadership, Niger’s GDP rose from US$7.9 billion in 2010, the year of the military junta, to US$12.9 billion in 2019, an increase of +64.3% (5. US$1 billion). Over this ten-year period, the country recorded positive GDP growth rates, ranging from +2.4% in 2011 to +10.5% in 2012. The GDP growth rate for 2019 was +5, 9%.
However, Niger also experienced the third highest population growth rate in the world for the period 2015-2020 (+3.8%) and between 2010 and 2019 the country’s population increased by 6.8 million. inhabitants (i.e. the equivalent of the current population of Libya).
By way of comparison, the GDP of the African continent has increased by +21.9% over the last ten years, for a population growth rate of +2.5%, over the period 2015-2020.
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Bazoum sets the record straight
Present at the ceremony, President Mohamed Bazoum formally denied the rumors of alleged tensions, even of a clash between him and his predecessor. It is not so, claims the strong man of Niamey, invoking a famous French author.
President Mohamed Bazoum congratulated Issoufou for having made the alternation possible against all odds m. “Your name has gone down in history for having been associated with a gesture full of elegance and panache,” affirmed the Head of State. The path is now marked out for those who want to access the supreme magistracy. “They have no other choice but to respect the constitution and spare our country the tribulations inherent in the temptation of eternal power”, declared Bazoum in a torrent of applause.
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