Niger opened a national validation workshop on March 11 in Niamey to finalise its National Digital Development Policy (PNDN 2026 to 2035) and its Digital Sector Development Plan (PSDN 2026 to 2030), a ten-year framework aimed at making digital a primary driver of economic and social transformation in one of the world’s least-connected countries. Communications Minister Adji Ali Salatou chaired the session, calling it an essential step in national ownership of the strategy.
- Only approximately 23% of Niger’s population has internet access, placing it among the least connected countries on the continent. Mobile penetration stands at roughly 30%, with about 8.4 million mobile connections recorded in Q2 2025.
- The strategy rests on three pillars: improving sector governance and security, developing digital infrastructure and services, and building skills and innovation capacity.
- Priority infrastructure targets include expansion of the national fibre optic network, with Niger aiming to become a regional interconnection hub for optical fibre across the Sahel.
- The plan includes a push for e-government to modernise public administration, rural connectivity to reach isolated administrative villages, digital financial inclusion, and support for local digital content and national startups.
- The PSDN 2026 to 2030 is the operational five-year plan sitting beneath the longer PNDN 2026 to 2035 policy, translating the strategy into sector-level actions and investment targets.
Niger’s digital gap is structural. Low income levels, limited electricity access in rural areas, and a predominantly rural population of around 27 million make connectivity rollout logistically and financially demanding. The validation workshop process, bringing together public and private sector actors before formal adoption, reflects a deliberate effort to build consensus around a plan that will require sustained private investment and development finance to execute. Minister Salatou described the policy as the product of broad consultation across Niger’s digital ecosystem.
Bigger Picture: Niger is part of a wider Sahel digital push in which governments are recognising that digital infrastructure is foundational to economic formalization, financial inclusion, and public service delivery. The country sits at a crossroads of landlocked West Africa with potential as a transit hub for regional fibre connectivity linking Nigeria, Algeria, and Mali. Whether the PNDN translates from strategy document to measurable connectivity gains will depend on the funding environment, the involvement of operators like Airtel and Moov who together hold the majority of Niger’s mobile market, and political stability under the current military-led government, which took power in the July 2023 coup.
Sources: Ecofin Agency / Agence Nigérienne de Presse
