Togo’s National Assembly appointed Faure Gnassingbé as the first President of the Council, a new role created by the constitution adopted in May 2024. The Assembly announced this on May 3, during a plenary session in Lomé.

Gnassingbé, leader of the ruling Union for the Republic (Unir) party, secured the position after his party won 108 out of 113 seats in the April 2024 legislative elections. The new constitution grants the Council President full executive power, making the presidency a symbolic, ceremonial office.

Gnassingbé now leads the government, sets national policy, chairs the Council of Ministers, and oversees the administration, defense, and security forces. He controls foreign policy, appoints civil and military officials, executes laws, exercises regulatory power, and can grant pardons.

The constitution’s Article 47 states that the leader of the majority party or coalition in the National Assembly becomes President of the Council, following confirmation by the Constitutional Court. Unir formally nominated Gnassingbé, and the Constitutional Court validated the nomination.

This appointment signals the dawn of a new political and institutional chapter for the country under the Fifth Republic, defined by its parliamentary system. The President of the Council, now the key figure in Togo’s executive branch, will soon take the oath of office at an upcoming ceremony.

The D-CLIC program in Togo wrapped up last week with a graduation ceremony for 244 young people who completed five months of intensive digital training. 

The CUBE incubator ran the program in Lomé, Aného, Kara, and Dapaong, with support from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and several Togolese ministries. The program taught participants skills in web and mobile development, digital communication, and digital marketing.

Officials handed out certificates at the UniPod of the University of Lomé. Minister of Technical Training Isaac Tchiakpé and OIF regional representative Thi Hoang Mai Tran attended the event. Graduates pitched their projects to a panel of experts, entrepreneurs, and development stakeholders. Judges selected ten standout projects for further support, including Koulmed (home nursing care), ASILI Care (organic medicinal products), and ZaraGroup (import-export services).

The OIF plans to offer post-training support through an incubation process and will launch new sessions in Aného. The Togolese government reaffirmed its commitment to creating a national certification framework for short courses to better align digital skills with market needs.

Togo hosts the “Africa Leads” World Bank workshop this week in Lomé. The 3-day event gathers project leaders, technical experts, and government officials from West and Central Africa. The workshop, led by the government, aims to mobilize more resources and speed up results for World Bank-financed projects.

During the meeting, attendees will share best practices on monitoring, evaluation, and social impact. 

According to Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, development is a shared responsibility.

Meanwhile, Kodjo Adédzé, President of Togo’s National Assembly, stressed at the workshop’s launch that “monitoring and evaluation are at the heart of the government’s 2025 roadmap.”

The workshop will focus on food and water security, raising domestic revenue, education, energy, and skills development.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo will hold municipal elections on July 10, 2025. The Council of Ministers announced the date after its meeting on April 30 in Lomé. The government issued a decree to formalize the election schedule.

The electoral campaign will start at midnight on June 24 and end at 11:59 p.m. on July 8. During these two weeks, candidates will present their programs and defend their political positions nationwide.

Authorities set the candidate deposit at CFA50,000. Women will pay CFA25,000, half the amount for men, to encourage more women to run for office.

The government allocated CFA500 million for public campaign funding. All candidates will share 65% of this budget equally. The remaining 35% will go to parties that receive at least 10% of the votes, distributed according to their results.

Security forces will oversee the election process nationwide. The government scheduled early voting for July 7 for law enforcement officers. This measure allows them to vote without interrupting their security duties on election day.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo's National Institute of Industrial Property and Technology (INPIT) unveiled its new logo on Wednesday, April 30, 2024, in Lomé. Sector stakeholders and ministerial authorities attended the ceremony at the Hôtel Sarakawa.

Pierre-Henri Kouabo won the national design competition, launched last February for the logo design project; he received CFA800,000 FCFA. Sewa Kodjo Akovi and B. Gautier M. Folly also competed and won CFA200,000 and CFA100,000, respectively. The competition attracted 118 entries and aimed to mobilize young talent around industrial property challenges.

During the ceremony, Essè Yovo, Chairman of the INPIT Board of Directors, representing the Minister for Investment Promotion, said the “new logo embodies the image of a Togo that creates and moves forward”. This highlights the ambition to make innovation a pillar of Togo's economic competitiveness.

Adja Tchandikou, Acting Director of the INPIT, outlined the organization's missions. The institute processes applications for patents, trademarks, and designs, while raising awareness among SMEs and local inventors. INPIT is the operational arm of OAPI in Togo.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Togo pushes new forestry regulations to modernize its environmental laws. Sector players met in Lomé from April 24 to 25, 2025, to validate a revised draft forestry code.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources (MERF) leads the reform to align national rules with global sustainable management standards and multilateral agreements. The update falls under the government’s 2020-2025 roadmap, especially under efforts to modernize environmental legislation.

The revised code contains 173 articles. For this new code, 140 old articles were amended, 13 deleted, and 33 added. Colonel Koffi Dimizou, MERF’s Secretary General, stated: “It’s about adapting our legislative framework to the new paradigms of environmental preservation and sustainable development.”

The new draft will be reviewed by the government’s General Secretariat for legislative review before adoption by the National Assembly. The reform aims to boost forest governance, protect ecosystems, and advance Togo’s climate goals. This follows the recent adoption of a climate change law by the National Assembly.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

For the second consecutive year, Moov Africa is Togo’s top mobile internet provider. It ranks second in the West African Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) region, surpassing competitor YAS, formerly Togocom and now owned by the Axian group.

The local telecom watchdog, the ARCEP, released this performance on April 28, 2025. The data comes from a survey of Togolese consumers throughout 2024. The ARCEP analyzed five key mobile Internet quality indicators: average downstream speed, average upstream speed, latency, web browsing, and YouTube video streaming.

Moov Africa Togo scored 64,865 points overall, beating YAS’s 62,148 points. In 2023, Moov Africa led with 55,172 points. Both operators showed strong 4G downstream speeds: YAS at 38.4 Mb/s and Moov Africa Togo at 34.01 Mb/s. Video streaming success rates stood at 83.37% for Moov and 84.70% for YAS. Moov Africa Togo recorded lower latency at 28.06 milliseconds compared to YAS’s 31.16 milliseconds, ensuring smoother browsing.

Web browsing success rates remain moderate, with Moov Africa Togo at 57.34% and YAS at 52.55%. Upload speeds, crucial for file transfers and video calls, measured 13.15 Mb/s for Moov and 8.91 Mb/s for YAS.

In the WAEMU region, Moov Africa Togo ranked second out of 16 operators, while YAS placed fourth. Moov topped the 4G service category, with YAS in third place. Across Africa, Moov Africa Togo ranked eighth overall and third for 4G, ahead of YAS, which ranked twelfth overall and sixth for 4G.

The ARCEP acknowledges the progress and competition between the two main operators but notes that quality still lags behind top-performing markets, especially in web browsing and upload speeds. The regulator urges Moov Africa Togo and YAS to intensify improvements to meet the best African and international standards.

Esaïe Edoh

A delegation from France’s Agen conurbation visited Lomé last week to finalize a cooperation deal with Togo’s Golfe 1 commune. Agen president Jean Dionis led the team to sign a memorandum focused on operational partnerships and territorial innovation, moving beyond traditional twinning.

The agreement includes concrete actions: Agen will supply Golfe 1 with two dump trucks and 200 refuse bins to improve waste collection. The partnership also covers public health, renewable energy, youth exchanges, and training for local officials.

Golfe 1 Mayor Koamy Gomado called the deal a “win-win” for both parties. The collaboration aims to foster business growth by connecting economic players in both regions, reflecting a shift toward decentralized cooperation as a tool for internationalizing territories.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo’s government pushes local consumption ahead of May 1, 2025. On April 29, Minister Rose Kayi Mivedor-Sambiani orders public institutions to prioritize “Made in Togo” goods and services for official events, including Workers’ Day.

The government aims to boost domestic demand, showcase Togolese skills, support local processing, and strengthen national value chains. “Compliance with this directive is key to the success of our socio-economic development policy,” the minister insists.

This instruction builds on a 2020 circular from the Prime Minister’s Office that tells administrations and state companies to use local products and foods at their events.

For five years, Togo has celebrated a month of local consumption with its WAEMU neighbors to highlight national production, led by the Ministry of Commerce.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi