THE military government of Niger Republic has announced that the country will adopt Hausa as its national language.
According to the junta its decision to adopt Hausa as the national language is a move to distance the country from France, with whom Niger had maintained a complicated diplomatic relationship since gaining independence in 1960.
The change was revealed in a new charter issued on March 31, which stated, “Hausa is the national language” and “English and French are the working languages.”
This decision follows a national conference held in February, which bolstered the junta led by Abdourahamane Tchiani, allowing them to remain in power for the next five years.
The ICIR reports that Tchiani who was Niger’s military ruler since 2023 after he deposed Niger’s elected President, Mohamed Bazoum, was officially sworn in on March 26 as the country’s president for a transitional period of five years.
Tchiani took the presidential office under a new charter that replaced the West African country’s constitution.
He was also promoted to the country’s highest military rank of army general, and signed a decree ordering that all political parties be dissolved.
The ICIR reported that Niger’s relationship with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) broke down when the junta proposed a three-year transition period to democratic rule straight after the coup.
ECOWAS called this plan a “provocation” and threatened to intervene with the use of force, before later backing down.
The recent conference also acknowledged nine other local languages as “the spoken languages of Niger,” among them Zarma-Songhay, Fula, Kanuri, Gourmanche, and Arabic.
Hausa is the most widely spoken language in Niger, with an estimated 26 million speakers, especially concentrated in the central-southern regions of Zinder and Maradi, as well as in the western region of Tahoua and only about 13 per cent of the population, just over three million people, speak French.
The ICIR reports that Niger has been actively distancing itself from France by expelling French troops, cutting diplomatic ties, and renaming streets and monuments that previously carried French names.
Niger is not alone in this effort, as other former French colonies in the region like Mali and Burkina Faso are also taking similar measures.
All three countries have withdrawn from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), a post-colonial institution similar to the Commonwealth.
The ICIR reported that ECOWAS imposed economic sanctions on Niger Republic in 2023 after its presidential guards ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, as well as on Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.
ECOWAS lifted the economic sanctions in February 2024, at its extraordinary summit after which Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso first announced their intent to withdraw in that month and have since rejected calls from ECOWAS to reverse their decision.
However, ECOWAS formally recognised the withdrawal of the three nations in January 2025 after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.
They also created a confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States and strengthened alliances with Russia, Turkey, and Iran to address internal security threats such as jihadists and armed gangs, as well as external pressures.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.