In Togo’s Plateaux region, around 15,000 homes across 157 villages have benefited from the Social Nets and Basic Services project (Filets Sociaux et Service de Base or FSB) so far. This was revealed on October 11, by Katanga Mazalo, Managing Director of the ANADEB, the project's operational arm. According to the Togolese press agency, ATOP, Mazalo disclosed the figure during an assessment visit conducted in Edouhoué, Asrama district, by a joint delegation of the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD), which co-finance the project alongside the government. 

Quoting the official, the ATOP reported that as part of the project, no fewer than 125,000 households, across the country, are given individual cash transfers of CFA15,000 every quarter, over 18 months. The project has also enabled the construction of 20 school buildings, 10 photovoltaic boreholes, the rehabilitation of 3 peripheral healthcare units, the upgrading of 5 rural tracks, and the creation of 3 community centers.

During the recent visit, the people of Edouhoé talked with the World Bank-AFD delegation about steps for selecting beneficiary households, as well as details of the construction process for the infrastructure financed by the project.

While the Mayor of Commune Haho 2, Ayidoté Sossou, emphasized the local population's mastery of contract award procedures and expressed his gratitude to the partners for their trust, Julian Koschorke, head of the World Bank delegation, praised the participatory development process implemented in Edouhoé and reaffirmed his institution's commitment to continue financing local projects.

Together, the AFD, the World Bank, and the government of Togo injected CFA1.056 billion into the FSB project. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Lebanese companies active in Togo’s free-trade zone invested about CFA154 billion in the country in 2022. According to the Investment and Free Zone Promotion Agency (API-ZF), which compiled the statistics, these businesses created 8,723 jobs for nationals.

These figures were unveiled on Oct. 10, by the minister of investment promotion, Manualla Santos. This was during a meeting with the association of Lebanese business owners of Togo; a meeting held as part of the ministry’s "Investors Breakfast". The meeting took place at the 2 Février hotel in Lomé.

Santos and her team seized the opportunity to present the entrepreneurs with the government’s efforts to improve Togo’s business climate and to cover bottlenecks that slow the Lebanese delegation in their investment and reinvestment. They were also introduced to some projects falling under the government's roadmap. These included energy, agriculture (processing of agricultural raw materials, mechanization), classroom construction, social housing, and tourism projects.

It is worth noting that the recent edition of the Investors Breakfast is the second meeting. The event aims to mobilize local and foreign actors around investment projects in the country. The first edition brought together Togo's business community, bringing together representatives of lawyers, architects, notaries, and customs declarants.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Togolese Ministry of Mining and Energy has several reforms in the pipeline to modernize these sectors, at the national level. The reforms were introduced by Mila Aziable, Minister of Mining and Energy, last Wednesday, during the council of ministers.

According to Aziable, the reforms should involve government players, municipalities, and the private sector.

One of the main reforms planned in the oil and gas sector is "Updating the regulatory and legislative framework in the oil and gas sector and drawing up a national plan for opening gas stations which will ensure even distribution (ed. Note: of oil and gas products) throughout the national territory,” said the government.

Reforms projected in the mining sector are focused on protecting the environment and local communities.

In this area, the authorities will make sure to involve local authorities in the process of granting operating permits, and all initiatives aimed at deterring illegal quarrying.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The National Health Insurance Institute of Togo (INAM) is no longer the sole manager of the Universal Health Insurance (UHI) project in the country. The National Social Security Fund (CNSS) has joined it, following the examination and adoption of a decree on October 11, 2023, at a Council of Ministers meeting.

According to the Ministers, associating the CNSS with the project should “accelerate the operationalization of the universal health insurance and broaden the scope of insured persons.”

After the recent development, the Universal Health Insurance project now takes into account three categories of beneficiaries: public and assimilated employees, private sector workers, and vulnerable persons.  Expanding the pool of the insured, according to the government, "calls for the adoption of a new architecture, with an implementation strategy that leverages, not only the INAM's experience but also that of CNSS, relative to social protection management.”

The CNSS will, specifically, manage universal health insurance for salaried employees and pensioners in the private sector, self-employed workers in the informal and agricultural sectors, and religious ministers.

Meanwhile, the INAM will manage the universal health insurance scheme for civil servants and those receiving civil and military pensions. It will also cover vulnerable individuals and households.

The Universal Health Insurance project is set to launch on January 1, 2024. Ahead of its operationalization, the council of ministers adopted on October 4, 2023, several decrees structuring the project, with the aim of “guaranteeing wider access to healthcare for the population.”

Esaïe Edoh

Morocco’s OCP Group and the World Bank have signed, on Oct. 11, a partnership agreement to boost food security and agriculture in West Africa.

The agreement, a memorandum of understanding, was signed by Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, and OCP Group Chairman Mostafa Terrab in Morocco.

In detail, the deal will support programs targeting five million farmers in Togo, Benin, Guinea, and Mali, over ten million hectares. It will also speed up investments and reforms aimed at helping farmers access fertilizers, more easily and at cheaper prices

The agreement will focus on improving soil health and fertility, training small farmers, developing digital agriculture programs, building ECOWAS capacity, and creating a Regional Soil Health Center for West Africa, among others.

"This partnership between the World Bank and OCP Group puts the Lomé Declaration into action.", said Ousmane Diagana, adding that "our two institutions believe in the need to accelerate reforms and investments for resilient agriculture, the promotion of sustainable development and job creation."

Read also: Togo inks agreement with Morocco to set up a local phosphate fertilizer factory

"This project is a crucial step in unlocking Africa's potential for global food security," said Mostafa Terrab, Chairman and CEO of OCP Group. "The aim is to foster an equitable and sustainable agricultural transition by giving West African farmers access to specially designed fertilizers to improve their yields and incomes, thereby contributing to the region's development," he added.

This partnership is thus intended as continuity, to support the commitments made by the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security of ECOWAS member countries, as defined in the Lomé declaration on fertilizers and soil health in West Africa and the Sahel. 

It should be noted that the World Bank has pledged to raise its agricultural investments in West and Central Africa from $4 billion to $5.5 billion by 2024.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Togolese telecom watchdog, ARCEP, is calling on the country’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to reduce their rates, for mobile Internet, making them affordable for the population. Made via a press release on October 10, the call was prompted by concerns issued regarding the Wi-Fi zone activity in the country. These concerns were voiced by the Association of Wi-Fi zone operators in Togo, who feared the activity would die.

“Wifi zone” is a project that was launched in response to high internet tariffs in Togo, which the ARCEP often deplored.

According to the regulator, mobile internet tariffs in Togo are less affordable than in neighboring countries, and the country lacks fiber internet offers tailored to low-income households.

Wifi Zone framing

The ARCEP said it strives to enable Wi-Fi zone operators to operate legally and to protect them from possible abuse by ISPs. However, it called on operators to comply with regulatory provisions.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togolese Prime Minister, Victoire Tomegah-Dogbe, launched yesterday, Oct. 10, the Urban Water Security Project (PaSH-MUT). Launched in Lomé, the capital, the project will help more people have drinking water in the Greater Lomé area. 

According to PM Tomegah-Dogbe, the PaSH-MUT should enable almost a million people in the Greater Lomé area to benefit from better services, related to water supply. The official added that 200,000 people living in this area will be connected, for the first time, to drinking water networks.

"This project covers a range of areas from drinking water supply to sanitation, water resource management, hygiene, and institutional strengthening with a major impact on young girls in schools," said Minister of State, Minister of Water and Village Hydraulics, Yark Damehane.

In detail, during implementation, six autonomous drinking water supply systems will be set up in the outlying areas of Lomé. Moreover, the project will boost the water supply capacity of the Togolaise Des Eaux (TDE) in the Lomé municipality.

More specifically, boreholes, water supply, treatment, and storage systems will be built and rehabilitated under the project. And water distribution networks will be replaced and extended; all in line with the Greater Lomé Master Plan.

The World Bank has backed the project with $100 million. After its launch yesterday, Fily Sissoko, the Bank’s representative in Togo, said: “This project supports the sector reform framework, notably by mobilizing the private sector to help Togo provide water in sufficient quantity and quality to the greatest number of households in Greater Lomé.”

Esaïe Edoh