Gabi (Niger)

Region

Gabi is a rural municipality in the Department Madarounfa in Niger.

Geography

Gabi is the major landscape Sudan and shares land borders with the neighboring state of Nigeria. The neighboring communities in Niger are Safo in the northwest and Madarounfa in the Northeast. The municipality is divided into 78 administrative villages, 43 hamlets and a warehouse. The main town of the rural community is the administrative village Gabi.

With the Goulbi de Gabi and the Goulbi de Madarounfa cut through two dry valleys the municipality in north-south direction. The average annual rainfall is 601 millimeters in Gabi, the number of rainy days per year an average of 39 ( measurement period 1995-2006). The Forêt de classée Gabi North with 560 acres and the Forêt de classée Gabi Sud 400 hectares are two nature reserve forest areas in the municipality of Gabi. The protected status was 1950.

History

Gabi was founded in the 19th century by residents of the town of Maradi. The French colonial administration set up in 1944 a canton in a Gabi. 2002 emerged the rural community of Gabi as part of a nationwide administrative reform from the canton of Gabi.

Population

At the 2001 census, Gabi had 56 547 inhabitants. For the year 2010 76.412 inhabitants were calculated. The population is predominantly hausasprachig. There are minorities of Fulani and Tuareg in the community.

Economy and infrastructure

The valleys in Gabi among the regions with the best soil fertility in Niger. Apart from agriculture, the cross-border informal trade with Nigeria is an important source of income for the population.

Personalities

• Idrissa Laouali ( b. 1979 ), football player