- published: 24 Sep 2011
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Maradi is the third largest city in Niger and the administrative centre of Maradi Region. It is seat of the Maradi Department and an Urban Commune.
Maradi was originally built on a lush flood plain, but after several severe floods, it was moved up to a plateau just above the flood plain by the French colonial administrators in 1946. As of the 2001 census, the official population of Maradi was 148,017. The predominant ethnic group in the city is Hausa, with a few urbanized Fulani and Tuaregs living there as well. Various ethnic groups from Nigeria, particularly Ibo and Yoruba, can also be found in skilled trades or in small shops.
Maradi is the major transport trade and agricultural hub of Niger's south central Hausa region. It lies on the major east—west paved highway which crosses from Niamey in the west to Diffa in the far east. Maradi has long been a merchant city, on the route north from Kano, Nigeria. This explains why one can use either the West African CFA franc (Niger's official currency) or the Nigerian Naira for currency in Maradi. The city lies in a region known for groundnut farming.
Mademoiselle remembers too well
How once she was belle of the ball
Now the past she sadly recalls.
Mademoiselle lived in grand hotels
Ordered clothes by Chanel and Dior
Millionaires queued at her door.
Oh, she pleased them and teased them
She hooked them and squeezed them
Until like their empires they'd fall
She very soon learned
That the more love she spurned
The more power she yearned
Until she was belle of the ball.
Oh, Mademoiselle, such a soft machiavel
Would play bagatelle with the hearts of young men as
they fell
Mademoiselle would hide in her shell
Could then turn cast a spell on any girl
That got in her way.
She would crave all attention
Men would flock to her side
Woe betide any man who ignored
For she'd feign such affection
Then break down their pretension
When she'd won she would turn away.
Turn away, thoroughly bored.
Mademoiselle, long ago said farewell
To any love left to sell, for the sake of being belle
of the ball
Mademoiselle knows there's no way to quell
Her own private hell, just a shell,
With no heart left at all.
Poor old Mademoiselle.