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1.Mamadou Tandja is the current President of Niger in Africa.

2. In Niger there is a worsening trend of the underdevelopment of the oil-rich Delta region that is the source of 90 percent of the money received from other nations. "The struggles are waged between and among the hegemonic and tiny class and the subordinated class within the state over the political control of the mining acreages and access to a share of the proceeds of the sector." ("Political")

It is the most thinly populated nation and the Sahara Desert covers most of country. Niger is one of the world's poorest countries. There are about 10,075,511 people living here, as of 2000. "Before the colonial era, sharp distinctions existed between nobles and commoners, herders and farmers, warriors and producers. Under French rule, people in the same classes held similar positions in the workforce, government, and military." ("Niger") Due to this separation, people of the same social and economic backgrounds have similar interests no matter what their ethnic group is. This means that the social structure in this nation is reflected by economic classes.

This nation is in poor shape even before Tandja came into power. This is a result of much drought. The state was also held back by a coup or a sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government. Locust attacks and poor rainfall led to major protests organized by civil society groups and opposition parties. There is a state-wide famine going on right now because of the lack of water leading to death of animals and plants. Niger has such great problems right now that it is even referred to as the least livable country in the world.

3.Tandja was in the military junta that ousted President Diori, was a prefect of the Region of Tahoua, the Ambassador of Niger and Minister of the Interior before becoming President. He starting many projects including the country's first oil refinery, the construction of a dam on the River Niger and the mining of new uranium sites in the north of the country. It has been said that these projects have already started to raise living standards.

4. References of Niger that are participating in this debate include Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea and Chad.

5. Benchmarks set by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation:

1)56% Safety and Rule of Law 2)38% Participation and Human Rights 3)43% Sustainable Economic Opportunity 4)33% Human Development

Sustainable Economic Opportunity has been brought down greatly due to the low infrastructure. Because Niger is so spread out, it isn't that logical to set up a transportation system. Phone power and water lines would be too expensive for the country. Schools and prisons are also expensive and the government wouldn't be able to regulate police so spread apart and it would be difficult transporting children to schools because of the thinly distributed population, making it too hard for the children to walk or use another type of transportation to school. Because of the low education and the limited healthcare, this has brought down it's score for Human Development. They cannot provide hospitals as easily because of the bad economy making it too expensive and because there would have to be many hospitals to divide up between the regions but there aren't enough people that they would need to be one for as much land as there is one in well populated countries. Another problem is that there aren't enough educated people to act as nurses in hospitals. Personal safety is not high because of the limited judicial system and police, bringing down the Safety and Rule of Law.

Works Cited: African Success. "African Success : Biography of Mamadou TANDJA." African Success : People Changing the Face of Africa. African Success, 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. .

BBC. "BBC News - Profile: Mamadou Tandja." //BBC News - Home//. BBC, 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. .

Catholic Relief Services. "Niger." //Catholic Relief Services//. Catholic Relief Services, 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. .

Columbia University Libraries. "African Studies: West Africa." Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University Libraries. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. .

"Niger." Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. John Middleton. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. 132-135. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 Sep. 2011.

"Political Economy of Natural Resource Struggles in Niger Delta [document]." Africa News Service 28 Apr. 2010. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 28 Sep. 2011.

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