The new president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, appointed Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou on Saturday (April 3) as prime minister, state television reported.
Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou is the former chief of staff of outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou.
Read also: Niger: the perilous presidency of Mohamed Bazoum
"
Mohamed Bazoum, President of the Republic today signed a decree at the end of which Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou is appointed prime minister,
" said the general secretariat of the government in a statement read on public television.
The new government will be formed "
in the coming days
", according to an official source.
Elected to the legislative elections of December 2020, twice Minister (of Mines, Energy and Industry from 1991 to 1993, then of Finance from 2011 to 2012), Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, in his sixties, "
belongs to a first circle of faithful
”of former President Issoufou and“
is very much listened to by the party apparatus
”in power since 2011, the Nigerian Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), according to one of his relatives.
“
He has all the files of the Issoufou regime in mind.
Mohamed Bazoum is part of the continuity,
”said a PNDS activist.
Read also: In Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou hands over
A graduate in economics, business management and accounting, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou is a Hausa from the Tahoua region (southwest, where Mahamadou Issoufou is also from).
In 2012, he had to leave the Ministry of Finance after a scandal related to the irregular award of public contracts of more than 10 billion CFA francs (15 million euros).
He then became the boss of the International Bank of Africa (BIA-Niger), one of the most important in the country, before becoming in June 2015 Chief of Staff of President Issoufou.
Read also: Niger: tensions after the elections
Mohamed Bazoum, 61, was invested president on Friday April 2.
He was elected at the end of the second round of the presidential election on February 21 with more than 55% of the vote against a former president, Mahamane Ousmane, who did not recognize his defeat.
