NIAMEY, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE. — In French West Africa, it was established on 28 April 1942 from territories detached from the apostolic vicariates of Dahomey, now Ouidah, Ouagadougou, Khartoum, and Foumban, and from the apostolic prefecture of Jos and Kaduna, and entrusted to the Society for African Missions. Its area was 1,360,000 sq. km., with a population of 2,100,000 inhabitants, of whom in 1942 only 780 were Catholics, assisted by seven missionaries.
The inhabitants of the regions north of the Niger were predominantly Muslim, and those to the south pagan. The extent of the territory called for a division, all the more because Muslim propaganda was becoming increasingly active and Protestant propaganda increasingly threatening. For this reason, in 1946 several Redemptorist Fathers went to the northern zone, establishing themselves at Zinder, Niamey, and Fada. In the meantime, the French Government re-established the Colony of Upper Volta, and thus the apostolic prefecture of N. came to comprise territories belonging to the colonies of Niger, Dahomey, and Upper Volta.
On 13 May 1948 the territory was divided, and the prefecture of N. retained the entire territory of the Colony of Niger and the Fada-Ngourma district, which formed part of the Colony of Upper Volta. The remaining territory PARACATÙ (v.). The area of the apostolic prefecture of N. is approximately 1,294,000 sq. km., with a population of approximately 2,200,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,700,280 are Muslims and 495,000 pagans. There are approximately 3,700 Catholics, assisted by 12 Redemptorist missionaries, to whom the prefecture has been entrusted, and by 9 sisters. There are 18 catechists, 5 primary stations, and 36 secondary stations; 3 elementary schools. There are several charitable and Catholic Action associations.