Abdou Sidikou (1927 – 26 July 1973) was a

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesForeign Minister of Niger from 1967–1970 under

Hamani Diori Hamani Diori (6 June 1916 – 23 April 1989) was the first President of the Republic of Niger. He was appointed to that office in 1960, when Niger gained independence. Although corruption was a common feature of his administration, he gained in ...

.He was a member of the ruling PPN-RDA party.

Early life

Abdou—his surname—was born in

Kouré, Niger Kouré is a rural community located east of Niamey, the capital of Niger. The town lies on both sides of the road from Niamey to Dallol Bosso. Kouré is best known for West African giraffes (''Giraffa camelopardalis peralta''), an endemic subspec ...

in 1927. Under French colonial rule he was son of an appointed local chief, or ''Chef du Canton'', educated at the elite

École normale supérieure William Ponty École William Ponty was a government teachers' college in French West Africa, in what is now Senegal. The school is now in Kolda, Senegal, where it is currently known as École de formation d’instituteurs William Ponty. It is associated with th ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

and later studied Medicine at the Paris Faculty of Medicine, graduating in 1956, and working first at the Hospital of the Seine in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and then becoming chief

Pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

National Hospital (Niamey) The National Hospital is a hospital in Niamey, Niger. It has 244 beds. The hospital was founded in 1922. Services The hospital provides a wide range of services to residents of Niamey and the greater region. As of September, 2018 the National H ...

Government career

In 1959, Abdou was appointed Cabinet director to Niger's first Minister of Health Diallo Boubakar,Décret n°59-175, nommant les Membres du Gouvernement
The Presidency of Niger. Accessed 2009-05-20. and in 1962 was appointed Ambassador of Niger to the United States, Canada, and the United Nations. In 1964 he moved to Germany, where he was Niger's Ambassador to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n nations, and the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

. He became Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Niamey, and on 14 April 1967, took over the ministry from President

. Due to poor health, he was appointed as "Secretary of State to the President" in January 1970, at that time a cabinet-level post. He died 26 July 1973.

References

1927 births 1973 deaths Foreign ministers of Niger Nigerien diplomats Nigerian pharmacists Nigerien physicians People from Tillabéri Region 20th-century Nigerien politicians {{Niger-politician-stub