Niamey, 10th May 2017 – On the 10th of May 2017, the APRM delegation comprising of Prof Eddy Maloka, Ms Mary Agbebaku-Izobo and the Permanent Secretary of APRM National Secretariat in Senegal, Mr Abdou-Karim Lo paid a courtesy visit to the Office of the Focal Point in Niger, Mme Hadizatou Ousseini. Present at the meeting were the Chairperson of the National Governing Council and the Permanent Secretary of the APRM National Secretariat in Niger, Mr Hamzata Idrissa. They were discussions around Niger country review process and the advance support mission. Suggestions were made that the country review process should be done in 2018 to give Niger ample time to write the Country Self-Assessment Report, raise awareness and educational campaign to get the country involved in the review process. The meeting was concluded with a tentative date for the advance mission which will take place around the 19th to the 25th of June 2017.

On the 11th of May 2017, the APRM delegation visited the office of the APRM National Secretariat in Niger. The meeting comprised of the APRM delegation and 23 members of the Niger National Governing Council and the Niger APRM national secretariat. The Meeting started off with the Chairperson of the National Governing Council who stated that the country engagement mission is a platform for the exchange of ideas. Prof Eddy Maloka then went ahead to welcome everyone present at the meeting stating that the APRM country review process is a governance assessment programme for Africans by Africans. He thanked the Niger APRM delegation for their continuous support towards the APRM adding that he looks forward to the advance support mission in June 2017 and the Country Review Process in 2018. Mr Abdou-Karim Lo shared the experiences of the Senegal country review mission process adding that there will be challenges in carrying out the country review mission process but it is worth the process.

Furthermore, Mr Abdou-Karim Lo gave a presentation on the road map of the country review assessment process from June 2017 to January 2018. There was a question and answer session where various members of the NGC raised concerns on some ambiguities in the country review process. The questions were further clarified. At the end of the meeting, Mr Hamzata Idrissa thanked everyone for coming, and stated that he looks forward to the APRM review process in 2018 and the support mission in June 2017 where hopefully, the protocol will be signed to enable APRM commence the country review process.