WORLD FUTURE - NIGER FUTURE

MAMADOU TANDJA was born in 1938 at Mainé Soroa in Diffa area located at about 1,300km in the Eastern part from Niamey.
Coincidence or intuition led him as a very young to join the army that is this duty, civism, sacrifice, and total devotion school at the service of the nation.
He left army in 1991 as a lieutenant colonel. From 1963 to 1976 he was commander of many army services based in various parts of the country. Ha was the commander of the Engineers that constructed the Unity and Canadian Friendship road that links Diffa area to the rest of the country.
Politically, MAMADOU TANDJA has occupied all the important functions as Prefect, Minister and Ambassador from 1976 to 1991. Added to his military experience, these experiences allow him to achieve a perfect knowledge of Niger, its populations, the populations concerns in their daily life, and to be fully aware of all the situations.
Brought up in the genuine Niger tradition, MAMADOU TANDJA has a great respect and deeply loves his parents. As a good head of family, he insists on the unity and the cohesion of this master cell, and he does every thing possible to well educate his children in order to successfully ensure them a good future.
As a citizen respectful of the law, a good nationalist, austere, transparent in the management of the state affairs, MAMADOU TANDJA always happily carries out his duties by paying, sometimes in advance, his taxes.
Populations' concerns and particularly farmers concerns are always, MAMADOU TANDJA's concerns:
In front of the worsening of these issues and the inability of the public powers to settle them, MAMADOU TANDJA feels deeply questioned by the situation.
He then feely left the army from 1st March 1991 to enter into politics that he thinks is the only way through which relevant solutions can be found to many problems the country was facing at the onset of democracy.
He reorganizes and boosts his party; le Mouvement National pour la Société de Développement (National Progress for Social Development) MNSD-NASSARA of which he is the chairman.
Loser during presidential elections in March 1993 and July 1996, TANDJA stays in the opposition for ten years. It was during this turmoil that he became aware of his responsibility in front the totalitarianism drift and the disastrous management of the political leaders in power. This was the true combat of his political carrier. It was this combat that successfully leads him to be elected President of the Republic through fair and transparent elections. MAMADOU TANDJA is leading the country since 22nd December 1999.
Self confident, with a moderate and frank speech, unconditional of self development, MAMADOU TANDJA is a lover of the rural world. A rural world he perfectly knows to have lived among and served the populations for forty years. The authority, rightfulness, wisdom and the determination he embodies help him be held in high respect by those he worked with.
Politically, MAMADOU TANDJA makes of the taking root and consolidation of democracy, priority tasks. His conviction is indeed, that it is democracy that allows establishing the framework and conditions in which all the citizens are allowed to equally, freely, legally and equitably express themselves. It is the dynamic and responsible participation of all the sons and daughters of Niger in the national construction work that will allow engaging and winning the fight for development. A development struggle that must start from the bottom. In other ways from the poorest grassroots levels. This combat that comes from the philosophy of the Development Society, based on the Mouvement National pour la Société de Développement (MNSD-NASSARA), the ruling party that he contributed to establish and to which he gave a national dimension at a point to make it the largest party in the country. The party largely works in favor of youth, women's promotion, particularly the rural women as  development actors you cannot do without, in favor of the development of the rural sector and generally in favor of the improvement of the life and existence conditions of Niger hardworking populations.
At a time when the international institutions set conditions to grant loans and the obtaining of any aid to the development of efficient strategies concerning directly the beneficiary populations, it is good to note that the MNSD-NASSARA had, since the 80's, felt the need to embark on this growth pattern in which the poor fully participate in the economic life. To this effect, MAMADOU TANDJA's experience will work in favor of Niger, as it is shown by the initiation and implementation of this ambitions Special Program of the President aimed at the construction every year of 1.000 classrooms, 1.000 health posts and about a hundred of water structures such as village and pastoral wells, water sills and mini dams. Some public interest infrastructures that allow the poor to share the growth repercussions, the young to work and reinforce their abilities and their welfare and to reduce their risks vulnerability.
The connection to the national grid program of many large built up areas of the country, the rural loan annually granted to women, dairy cows operation for women, availability of grain mills, purchase of motor pumps for farmers organizations, sale of staple food at low cost to populations during the in- between season complete the objectives of the Special program of the President of the Republic.
If MAMADOU TANDJA made of the three first years of his first office the arousing of the rural world, it is because he noted that, in the implementation of development strategies and policies, the real beneficiaries have in fact only got a few. Consequently, it is based on this fact, that his special program particularly underlines the mobilization and the rational utilization of existing local means to improve or change the life conditions of the populations. To sum up, the objective aimed at by MAMADOU TANDJA, through the availability of these public interest infrastructures is to practically use democracy in the rural world by establishing socioeconomic development approach bodies in the regions.
Convinced that poverty can only be sustainably rolled back without a good health status of the populations, the President of the Republic underlines among his priorities the reduction of infant mortality rate, malaria and particularly AIDS control in order to stop its spreading in the country.
As regard this sensitive Aids issue, President MAMADOU TANDJA always, when need be, draws people's attention on the serious effects of this Aids pandemic on individual households and on the entire national community. To sum up, Aids is today a true threat that requires a harsh fight back according to the challenge. That is the reason why the president has appointed a special advisor in charge of the Aids program.
Advocate of peace without which no development is possible, MAMADOU TANDJA has, at national level, implemented a historical mission by organizing in Agadez on 25th September 2000, the ''Peace flame'' ceremony. During this ceremony many arms held by the former Armed Resistance and Self defense Committees were burnt down.
This event was the opportunity for former leaders to officially declare the dissolution of their movements; this has truly marked their commitment to work in favor of the emergence of a strong, united and solidarity nation.
It is important to add to this good action many others among which the collection of illicit arms, the organization of a world forum on the prevention of conflicts, civic education in barracks by the National Follow-up Committee of the recommendations of the Symposium titled ''Army and Democracy, Study case of Niger''.
A man of conviction, honest and conciliator, MAMADOU TANDJA makes of the freedom of the press, the independence of justice and the equality of citizens before the law, an imperative even a demand. He intends that press men work freely and in a professional manner and that judges be fair, transparent and equitable.
In the sub-region, MAMADOU TANDJA has played and continues playing an efficient and discrete role in conflicts settlement among the states of the sub-region. This status grants him the esteem of his colleagues who elected him as chairman of many sub-regional organizations such as the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA), the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).