Digital maturity of the local authority

What does the city mean by “smart city”?

According to the President of the Special Delegation Mouctar Mamoudou, a smart city is the one that brings together all the players for a dynamic through the sharing of experiences. So, a smart city is a union to develop power and establish lasting reflection.

” A smart city is one that knows how to look at its weaknesses and transform them into strengths. It is the one that knows how to foresee the big changes of the future right now, for example demographic change, and foresees suitable infrastructure, equipment and services. ”

Mouctar Mamoudou

What digital projects have been carried out to date?

The Digital Strategy – Niamey 2.0 describes Niger’s ambitions to use digital technology for the development of the country. It includes specific areas of work such as E-government, in order to digitize administration. Also Innovation City, which aims to strengthen the digital ecosystem, through the teaching of coding and launching ‘open innovation’.

The National Transport Strategy 2017-2025 with the objective of improving public transport, capacity, sites and management, as well as improving traffic.

The National Road Safety Strategy with the objective of reducing traffic accidents in Niger by 50% by 2025. It is structured around 5 strategic focal areas;

1. institutional and regulatory management of road safety
2. road safety education and awareness raising
3. the technical condition of motor vehicles
4. care for accident victims
5. road infrastructure safety

Addressing: Addressing the city in 2004 provided for a solid database on the city’s tax base.

Finance: Several initiatives including SIMBA software used by the financial services of the Municipal Secretary since 1998 and tax collection with an NTax collect application.

Citizen participation: Some participative projects: for example the participation of the population in urban management through Nyala Challenge and waste management with an e_gnala application and a freephone 4334 number.

Transport: The city organized an international mobility forum in January 2020.

Other networks: Member of city networks (AIMF, AIRF, AMN, ARENI) as well as decentralized cooperation action and other partnerships with Ankara (Turkey), Oua- gadougou (Burkina – Faso), Grand Lyon, Pretoria, Durban (South Africa), Milan (Italy), Marseille (France), etc.

What are the plans for the future?

Niamey has a project in preparation which concerns digital transformation in the fields of transport which is called eCollect and deals with transport charges.

In partnership with the World Bank, there are also activities under the ‘Doing Business’ item. The objective is to digitize the archival and cadastral system of the city of Niamey.