Boubou Hama
Boubou Hama | |
|---|---|
| President of the National Assembly of Niger | |
| In office 28 September 1958 – 15 April 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Post established |
| Mayor of Niamey | |
| In office 23 January 1959 – 16 July 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Djibo Bakary |
| Succeeded by | Daddy Gaoh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1906 Fonéko Tédjo, Niger, French West Africa |
| Died | 19 January 1982 Niamey, Niger |
| Political party | PPN-RDA |
| Education | Académie des sciences d'outre-mer |
Boubou Hama (1906 – 29 January 1982) was a Nigerien writer, historian, and politician. He was President of the National Assembly of Niger under President of Niger, Hamani Diori.[1] He died in Niamey, in 1982.
Life and works
[edit]Hama was born at Fonéko, a small Songhai village in western Niger.[1] He studied at the École normale supérieure William Ponty and began his career as a teacher, in the mid-1920s becoming the first French-trained primary school teacher from what would soon become Niger.[1] As a writer he worked in many genres including history and theater. His writing gained international attention when his autobiography Kotia-nima (published with the support of UNESCO in 1971) won the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire.[2] His essay on African education won the Senghor Prize in the same year. His histories are said to place a great value on oral literature.[3]
Political career
[edit]Hama had been one of the founders of the Nigerien Progressive Party (PPN), a regional branch of the African Democratic Rally (RDA), and rose to become a close adviser of party leader and Deputy to the French National Assembly Hamani Diori. Following independence in 1960, the PPN became the ruling and sole legal party in Niger, and Hama became President of the National Assembly of Niger from 1961 to 1964. He was also one of the most prominent, and perhaps most powerful, members of the PPN politburo, which became the effective ruling body of the nation. One writer has called Boubou Hama the "eminence grise" behind Diori's rule.[4] The National Assembly of Niger met in largely ceremonial yearly sittings to ratify government positions. Traditional notables, elected as parliamentary representatives, often unanimously endorsed government proposals. Diori was re-elected unopposed in 1965 and 1970, but overthrown by military coup in 1974.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Un film retrace la vie de Boubou Hama, père de la culture nigérienne[permanent dead link]. APA (Dakar), 2010-04-08.
- ^ "Biografski dodaci" [Biographic appendices]. Republika: Časopis za kulturu i društvena pitanja (Izbor iz novije afričke književnosti) (in Serbo-Croatian). XXXIV (12). Zagreb, SR Croatia: 1424–1427. December 1978.
- ^ Simon Gikandi (9 March 2004). Encyclopedia of African Literature. Taylor & Francis. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-203-36126-9.
- ^ Samuel Decalo. Coups and Army Rule in Africa, Yale University Press (1990). ISBN 0-300-04045-8
- ^ Samuel Decalo. Historical Dictionary of Niger (3rd ed.). Scarecrow Press, Boston & Folkestone, (1997) ISBN 0-8108-3136-8
- BOUBOU HAMA: Enseignant, écrivain et homme politique nigérien, collection of works by, and short biography of, Boubou Hama. Soumbala.com
- Presidents of the National Assembly (Niger)
- Nigerien non-fiction writers
- 1906 births
- 1982 deaths
- Nigerien educators
- Nigerien Progressive Party – African Democratic Rally politicians
- Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- People from Tillabéri Region
- 20th-century non-fiction writers
- 20th-century Nigerien politicians
- Male non-fiction writers
- 20th-century male writers
- Songhai people