State in Niger

The Charte de la Refondation nationale is Niger's operative basic legal order. The Refondation is the transition framework established by the Charter. It sets a 60-month period from promulgation, with possible adjustment in light of security conditions, the Charter's cahier des charges and the Alliance of Sahel States agenda. This framework replaced the normal constitutional arrangement in practice while the Constitution of 25 November 2010 remains suspended under transition law. The President of the Republic is head of state, chief executive, supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the administration. The President chairs the Council of Ministers and may legislate through ordonnances. The Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie, or CNSP, is the central transition organ and exercises executive and legislative powers. The Gouvernement de la Refondation consists of the Prime Minister and ministers; the Prime Minister coordinates government work according to directions set by the CNSP. The Charter identifies eight principal organs: the President, the CNSP, the Government, the Conseil Consultatif de la Refondation, the Cour d'Etat, the Cour des Comptes, the Observatoire National de la Communication and the Observatoire National des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés Fondamentales. The Conseil Consultatif de la Refondation has 194 appointed members and five commissions. It advises the CNSP and Government but has no legislative mandate. The Cour d'Etat has the jurisdiction and organisation assigned by ordinance. The Cour des Comptes oversees public finances. The operational status of the human-rights observatory was not confirmed in the available official material; an official report still described a human-rights ad hoc body as being in preparation. Niger has eight regions, including Niamey, and 63 departments. Governors administer regions and prefects administer departments as representatives of the central State. Decentralised territorial authorities include seven regional collectivities and 255 communes: 214 rural communes, 37 urban communes and four cities or communes with special status. Niamey is one commune divided into five municipal districts. Local councils and mayors manage municipal responsibilities, while ANFICT supports the financing of territorial authorities. Responsibilities and resource transfers concern areas such as health, education, water and the environment, but practical effectiveness varies by locality. Deconcentrated administration connects central ministries and services with governors, prefects and communes. This structure handles matters such as civil registration, administrative counters and basic social services. Access depends on the service, the applicable law and the locality. Rural and vulnerable areas generally face weaker access than better-served urban areas. Niger has no consolidated national table covering every administrative fee and processing time, so the responsible ministry, governorate, prefecture or commune should be checked for the specific service. Access to public employment follows the applicable legal rules. The Ministry of Economy and Finance is responsible for the budget. The initial 2026 budget amounted to 2,922.22 billion FCFA. A first supplementary budget adopted in August 2026 increased it to 2,980.54 billion FCFA, an increase of 58.32 billion FCFA, or about 2 percent. The stated reasons included security needs, changes in the government structure, transfers of responsibilities to public services and fiscal simplification. The financing plan targets 85 percent from domestic resources and 15 percent from external resources. Transfers to territorial authorities are supported through ANFICT. A structural reference based on United Nations data for 2023 placed public resources reaching territorial authorities below 1 percent; this is not a 2026 audit result. The Cour des Comptes was recreated by Article 70 of the Charter. Sixteen counsellors were appointed in August 2025. The court examines accounts of the State, territorial authorities, public establishments and public enterprises. Its functions include audits, reports on budget execution, declarations of conformity, policy evaluation and sanctions for management faults. Suspected corruption or misuse of public assets can be reported through the Procureur Général près la Cour d'Etat or delegated prosecutors. The applicable complaint process and supporting documents depend on the facts. The Observatoire National de la Communication, created on 1 September 2025 by Ordonnance 2025-29, regulates print, electronic and audiovisual media and press advertising. It also addresses media protection, equitable access to public media, professional ethics and information monitoring. Public space remains restricted: Ordonnance 2025-06 dissolved political parties, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported arrests of journalists under the June 2024 amendment to the Cybercrime Act. The President commands the security forces. The Forces Armées Nigériennes include the army and air force, organised through nine defence zones and three air bases. Other public security bodies include the Gendarmerie Nationale, the civilian Police Nationale under the security ministry, the Garde Nationale and the FNIS. Internal security and counterterrorism are major State functions. Ordonnance 2025-42 provides for general mobilisation, while the 2026 DOMOL LEYDI project concerns territorial self-defence organisations. The available facts do not establish a general conscription rule. A foreign military presence requires prior sovereign consultation by referendum, except for an emergency measure ordered by the President after an opinion from the Conseil Consultatif de la Refondation; the emergency measure has a maximum duration set by the applicable rules.