From Köln (Germany) to Niamey (Niger)

Presentation of Niamey

Founded in the nineteenth century, Niamey the capital of Niger, has remained for a long time a village of a few hundred inhabitants. The population has increased from mid-1940 up to 1,432,034 inhabitants in 2015, with a current annual growth of 4.5%, one of the highest rate in the World. Niamey is the first urban center in Niger which concentrates more than one third of the national urban population. This population consists of mainly young people under 20 years (55% of the whole population), whereas only 3% of this population is aged over 60 years.

Parallel to my master thesis field research, the history of my first visit in Africa (Niger).

I came to Niger in order to do the research for my master thesis, to gather the data needed to be able to develop a decentralized renewable energy system design for a village with no electrification to supply the basic electrical needs. To do this, both a research of the electrical situation of the city of Niamey as well as surveys and village field work were performed to have comparison points between different realities of the spectrum.

I was received In Niger with smiles and friendliness by the people, and a slap to the face by the weather!

Vittorio Sessa, TH Koeln/ITT

Group photo during the Kickoff meeting at ITT (Photo: Heike Fischer /TH Köln)

As Niger is a land lock country, Niamey city is at over 1140 km from the nearest seaport in the region (Cotonou). Therefore, Niamey meets a strong enclave situation which puts this city on the sidelines of the main regional economic exchange circuits. However, the capital embodies most economic activities and equipment of the country, for this reason it appears as the most populous city (36.5% of the total urban population of Niger). Although Niamey is, for the majority of the surrounding population, a magnet because of the poverty effects which is 27.1 in Niamey against 55.5 in the other cities, with a national average of 62.1.

Due to migration the city real population is not well known. Niamey is facing many Infrastructural challenges: water and sanitation supplies, energy supply, food supply, lack of health and education infrastructures, land use, land cover and social dynamics

This cooperative research project is financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFB) for the project period of three years with the budget of about 800.000 Euros. Three renowned institutes from Germany with their international networks are collaborating with two of the most significant regional scientific and higher education networks from Africa. The German partners are: the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT) at TH Köln, the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at University of Bonn and the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn. The African partners are represented through the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey in Niger and the Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES) positioned in Tlemcen, Algeria.

Before the History of my visit in Niamey (NIGER), let see a quick presentation of :

• RARSUS Project which allowed me to visit Niaamey,
• Niamey and its main Infrastructural challenges.

Presentation of the RARSUS Project

My university in Germany TH Koeln/ITT worked in tandem with the university Abdou Moumouni of Niamey, namely with School of Sciences and Technology and the Program WASCAL in Climate Change and Energy, as part of the RARSUS project.

The main goal of the RARSUS (Risk Assessment and Reduction Strategies for Sustainable Urban Resource Supply in Sub-Saharan Africa) project is to establish a long-term, research-based higher education partnership between Germany and Africa within the field of sustainable supply management in urban and semi-urban regions in Africa.