The country wants to position itself as the reference in digitization in West Africa and leverage ICTs for efficient socio-economic development.

Beninese Digital Minister Aurelie Adam Soulé Zoumarou (photo) recently defended her Ministry’s 2023 before the parliament. The projects included in the XOF31 billion (US$49.2 million) budget include high-impact digital projects and reforms that will benefit the whole country.   

According to the government official, the projects include the extension of connectivity to every region -including rural areas- to accelerate the digitization of the country’s administration. They also include the improvement of digital use and confidence and actions to make communes more attractive with digital transformation. Another project is the modernization of Benin’s media to make it more attractive.

The budget also plans for the development of new training curricula to enhance the training offered by the public school for digital professions as well as the development and promotion of artificial intelligence and data management applications useful to national programs and finally the continuation of the Smart Gouv project.

The 2023 budget is 23.57% higher than the XOF24.252 billion Minister Zoumarou presented before the parliament for 2022. According to the official, the 2023 budget is higher because the country needs to pursue and enhance some of the projects launched in 2022.  Those projects include the digitization of public administration and the extensions of e-services in every sector.

Samira Njoya