Hassoumi Massaoudou is a

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesMinister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from October 2016 to January 2019. A leading member of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-Tarayya), he was Minister of Communication, Culture, Youth and Sports from 1993 to 1994, President of the PNDS Parliamentary Group from 1999 to 2004, Director of the Cabinet of the President from 2011 to 2013, Minister of the Interior from 2013 to 2016, and Minister of National Defense in 2016 and minister of Foreign Affairs since 2021.

Political career

Massaoudou was a founding member of the PNDS, a party created under the leadership of

Mahamadou Issoufou Mahamadou Issoufou (born 1 January 1952) is a Nigerien politician who served as the President of Niger from 7 April 2011 to 2 April 2021. Issoufou was the prime minister of Niger from 1993 to 1994, president of the National Assembly from 1995 t ...

in 1990; when the party held its Constitutive General Assembly on 23–24 December 1990, Massaoudou was designated as its Secretary for Information and Propaganda. Following Niger's first multiparty elections in 1993, a coalition government headed by Mahamadou Issoufou was named on 23 April 1993; it included Massaoudou as Minister of Communication, Culture, Youth and Sports. He served in that position until Prime Minister Issoufou resigned in late September 1994 and the PNDS left the ruling coalition, with a new government being named on 5 October 1994. Following the military coup led by Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara on 27 January 1996, Massaoudou was arrested on 13 July 1996 and tortured while in detention, with

mock execution A mock execution is a stratagem in which a victim is deliberately but falsely made to feel that their execution or that of another person is imminent or is taking place. The subject is made to believe that they are being led to their own executio ...

s being used."Niger: A major step backwards"
, Amnesty International, 16 October 1996. Massaoudou was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

in the November 1999 parliamentary election and served as President of the PNDS Parliamentary Group during the parliamentary term that followed. As of 2004, he was the First Deputy Secretary-General of the PNDS. Regarding President Mamadou Tandja's 2009 efforts to create a new constitution that would remove presidential term limits, Massaoudou said that Tandja had lost his legitimacy and that the opposition would "treat him as a mere putschist". He told the press on 1 June 2009, that Tandja was attempting the "demolition of democratic institutions". He also said that "simultaneous giant rallies across the country" would be held on 7 June to oppose Tandja's planned constitutional referendum. Massaoudou headed Issoufou's campaign for the January–March 2011 presidential election."Niger : Mahamadou Issoufou installe un Touareg au poste de Premier ministre"
''Jeune Afrique'', 8 April 2011 . Issoufou won the election and took office as President on 7 April 2011; he appointed Massaoudou as Director of the Cabinet of the President, with the rank of Minister, on the same day. Massaoudou served as Director of the Cabinet for over two years before being appointed to the government as Minister of the Interior, Public Security, Decentralization, and Customary and Religious Affairs on 13 August 2013. After Issoufou was sworn in for a second term, Massaoudou was moved to the post of Minister of National Defense on 11 April 2016. Six months later, on 19 October 2016, he was again moved, this time to the post of

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

.Mathieu Olivier
"Niger : Mahamadou Issoufou nomme un nouveau gouvernement incluant le MNSD"
''Jeune Afrique'', 20 October 2016 .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massaoudou, Hassoumi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Ministers of council of Niger Members of the National Assembly (Niger) Members of the Pan-African Parliament from Niger Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism politicians Communication ministers of Niger Culture ministers of Niger Defense ministers of Niger Foreign ministers of Niger Finance ministers of Niger Interior ministers of Niger Sports ministers of Niger