Modernity is slow to come to Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world

When I type “Nigeriens” into my word processor, it comes up with a red squiggly line under it: a typo. When I google a question about “Nigeriens”, I get asked if I mean “Nigerians”. No, Google, I don’t.

Niger is a landlocked west African country. Its flag is green, white and orange, like Ireland’s, though the lines are horizontal, with an orange circle in the centre, potentially symbolising the sun. This would be fitting, given temperatures can enter the 40s.

There are as many as 26 million Nigeriens, though accurate figures around this, as well as many other things, can be hard to confirm. Niger has one of the fastest-growing populations in the world, with women giving birth to almost seven children each on average. The country is projected to have 30 million citizens by 2030, and 70 million by 2050.

Niger borders Libya, Burkina Faso, Chad, Benin, Algeria and Mali. Its neighbours face a host of problems, including repeated coups and Islamist terrorism. Niger has not escaped instability. Yet its capital city, Niamey (pronounced Nya-may by locals) is calm – almost sleepy.

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Goats and cows walk streets where sand anchors the foosball tables on which children challenge each other. Markets chime with greetings in some of Niger’s many languages. A poster advertises a private security firm; the homes of the wealthy have sturdy metal gates. “Thug life” is written on a wall in graffiti, strikingly similar to some I saw in Khartoum. There are salons, photo studios and food stalls. At certain times of the day, lines of men bend in prayer.

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The Niger River runs through Niamey on its more than 4,000km journey from Guinea to Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Sunsets above it are beautiful. Despite Niger being majority Muslim, it is also pretty easy to find locally made beer, if you are that way inclined.

Today it is one of the world’s poorest countries in terms of wealth per person. Life expectancy is roughly 61. France occupied Niger for 70 years, and the most common languages are French, Hausa, Songhai and Arabic. The currency is the West African CFA franc.

Niger’s democratic transfer of power in 2021 was its first since it achieved independence in 1960. Mohamed Bazoum (63) is president.

More change is coming through the internet, locals say. Only 1 per cent of Niger’s population had internet access in 2014, but that is rising. Social lives have long revolved around drinking tea; or dressing up for weddings and baby-naming ceremonies. Today, wedding attendees scroll on their phones, Ali Oumarou complains, when we meet at what’s called a “fada” near Niamey’s central market, where people gather to drink green tea.

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“You have everything on the internet, you can watch anything. It’s changing the culture ... Now people don’t concentrate on each other and talk. They look at their phones, checking Google, Facebook or WhatsApp.”

There are positives too, he adds. “It permits us to have information about how things are around the world, and we have discovered how to denounce different things like mismanagement and corruption.”

The electricity has cut out for the third time that day, so Oumarou – who wears a purple traditional outfit – is taking a break from sewing seams into clothing. “For me life is good,” he says. “There is no crime,” and, he imagines, more “friendship” than one might experience in Europe. “But things are getting very expensive ... It’s causing many problems.”

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One Sunday, I went to Niamey’s hippodrome, where there are sometimes races on the weekend. There were none that day. Instead, men lay in spectator stands, sleeping or reading newspapers. In the middle of the track were white tents where people displaced by floods two years before had been camping since.

Another day we get a boat up the river. Along the way we see women washing clothes, hippos, the presidential palace and a mansion owned by a wealthy businessman. The light is golden.

“No tourists,” complains our guide. “Al Qaeda, Boko Haram – now tourism is dead.” For the past decade, he says, the only customers he gets are foreigners already working in the country.

With the cost of living going up, many citizens struggle to tell me what they love about Niger.

“We cannot insult our country so we tell foreigners it’s a nice country,” says Fati Hama (57). She sits on a wooden bench, behind her daughter, who is frying yam and dough to sell. A chicken walks past.

“Niger is a peaceful country and once you come here no one will disturb you,” she eventually pronounces.