Togo First
A majority of Togolese are happy with how the government handled the Covid-19 pandemic
A year into the pandemic’s emergence in Togo, a majority of the Togolese population (72%) say they are satisfied with the way the government handled the crisis. This is the conclusion of a recent survey carried out by Afrobarometer.
According to the study, 3 out of 10 of those surveyed (29%) said the government helped them cope amid the pandemic. However, among those, a majority (58%) claimed this support was unequal.
Regarding school closure, 29% of the surveyed disapproved of the government’s decision while 78% believed the closing period was too long.
Despite an overall satisfaction, 66% of the population believes that “some or a lot of the resources made available to tackle the pandemic disappeared due to corruption.”
Let’s recall that to date, Togo has confirmed 7,086 Covid-19 cases, including 1,186 currently active, and 85 deaths.
Klétus Situ
Morocco to help Togo in the launching of its social and economic council
Togo will benefit from Morocco’s expertise to launch its Social and Economic Council (CES). Last Monday, a work session between a delegation of the CES and the Moroccan Social, Economic, and Environmental Council (CESE) took place in the framework.
The Moroccan delegation was led by Younes Benakki, secretary-general of the CESE and secretary of the African Union of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (UCESA).
Christian Trimua, the Togolese minister of human rights, who led the work session, ascribed the decision to choose Morocco to the fact that he chairs the UCESA. “This way, we kill two birds with a stone, through the UCESA, and we will at the same time have access to 19 comparative experiences,” he said.
It was also revealed that the Togolese Economic and Social Council will be established in Aneho, at the southern border with Benin.
Klétus Situ
A Togolese firm picked to build the housing and multimedia center at Kara High School
The Togolese Ministry of Primary, Secondary, Technical, and Handicraft Education will provide the Kara Science High School with a multimedia and housing center. The project has been entrusted to NAD BTP, a Togolese construction company.
NAD BTP is the provisional winner of this contract which aligns with the digital transition initiated by the State in the education system, as well as its ambition to provide housing for high school students.
The Togolese firm, it should be emphasized, built the Canal Olympia theater and entertainment center. This new project is expected to cost more than half a billion CFA francs, according to its bid.
The amount projected is less than that proposed by the other companies, also Togolese, which bid for the project. These firms are Hitel Pro and Ics Concept Service.
Séna Akoda
Lomé works on new national employment policy
Togo is working on a new employment policy, an updated version of the former policy which was adopted in 2018.
To this end, the Togolese authorities organized a two-day workshop to equip and boost the capacities of members of the national committee monitoring the employment strategy. Participating in the event are also various experts and executives engaged in the monitoring of this document.
According to Kondo Loki, Director General for Employment, “the session should help prevent any issues we registered with the previous policy.”
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
In Togo, the ACCI commits to the development of local municipalities
Lomé presently hosts a territorial branding workshop on the theme “Territorial intelligence: methods and tools to support Togolese municipalities.”
Started on March 1, the event will close on March 4th. Its main host is Guy Gweth, president of the African Centre for Competitive Intelligence (ACCI) and also the representative of the Federal association of German SMEs in Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Cameroon.
The workshop aims to equip Togolese municipalities with tools to “sustainably attract tourists, researchers, qualified workers and investors,” thus tackling the lack of financing they experience.
In the same vein, Gweth launched the PCL, a scheme aimed at making local African communities more attractive and competitive. The move should contribute to their economic development and improve their living standards, through diagnostics, multisectoral watch, and fundraising, both at the national and international levels.
Among others, the PCL works for the identification, strategic structuring and international promotion of local products such as Kovié’s rice or Bassar’s yams, two municipalities of Togo.
Séna Akoda
Yearly, exports from the Free-trade area generate more than CFA240 billion
With over CFA240 billion of investments attracted since its creation, the Togolese free trade area exports about CFA242 billion worth of goods and services yearly, according to the Presidency.
Goods and services exported range from agro-food products to pharmaceuticals, banking software, beekeeping products, horticultural products, vehicle batteries, latest print products, etc. Companies supplying these benefit from tax incentives.
The Free-trade area generates a turnover of CFA268 billion per annum and its contribution to Togo’s GDP stands at CFA67.88 billion.
Now, Lomé, under its 2020-2025 development plan aims to boost the zone’s added value to the economy. It plans to do so by introducing major reforms, including some to operationalize the new Agency for the promotion of investments and the Free Trade area (API-ZF), as well to by commencing works to set up Adéticopé’s industrial platform (PIA).
Séna Akoda
Togo and Shelter-Afrique partner to build 3,000 low-cost housing units in Lomé
Shelter-Afrique and the Togolese government will build 3,000 low-cost housing units in Lomé. This is in a context where the housing deficit in the Togolese capital surged over the past decade, due to population growth and accelerated urbanization.
The project will be developed under a public-private partnership (PPP). The related agreement was recently inked in Nairobi, Kenya, by both parties involved.
This initiative lines up with Lomé’s ambition to build 20,000 social housing units by 2022, a deadline that was extended to 2025 due to Covid-19.
In detail, Shelter-Afrique, a pan-African finance institution, committed to partially finance the project and, as lead arranger, mobilize other investors to secure the remaining amount. For its part, the Togolese government will provide the needed land, infrastructure, and tax incentives for its smooth realization.
Through this major PPP, Lomé reaches a new milestone in its social housing program - one of the key components of the National Development Plan (PND).
“The Memorandum of Understanding we just signed with Shelter-Afrique marks a new stage in our partnership and it will be crucial to reach our housing target for 2025,” said Koffi Tsolenyanu, Togo’s Minister of Urbanism, Housing and Land Reform.
Commenting on the development, Shelter Afrique said it intends to use the Togolese PPP model as a springboard to expand its investments and interventions in the social housing sector, in Africa. This, the firm added, is in a context where the continent is said to record a housing shortage of 56 million units, 90% of which fall under the affordable housing category.
In Togo, the latest data shows that the government has built more than 20,000 housing units since 2005. In 2018, the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), which provides medium and high-end housing, launched a vast project to build 599 housing units called Résidence Renaissance. The total cost for the project is estimated at more than 91 billion FCFA.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Togo, Nigeria’s only debtor to clear part of what it owes for power bought from the giant
Last year, the Compagnie d’Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) paid 1.51 billion naira (CFA2.16 billion) for power bought from Nigeria.
Doing so, Togo somehow calmed tensions with Abuja which threatened, repeatedly, to cut its supply.
It should be noted that so far, Lomé is the only one to have cleared part of the debt it owed the West African giant - contrary to Benin and Niger. These two owe a total of 2.60 billion or nearly CFA3.7 billion to Nigeria, according to a report recently published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and covering Q2 2020.
In this regard, the Nigerian regulator still threatens to stop providing them with power.
Let’s recall that in mid-2020, the CEET (Togo’s power utility) raised CFA25 billion from the West African Development Bank (BOAD) to settle its debts.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Paris Club suspends Togo’s debt repayment until June
In the framework of the Debt Relief Service Initiative (ISSD), the Paris Club suspended Togo’s debt repayment until June 30, 2021. The news was disclosed in a statement released by the Club on February 11, 2021.
This is a six-month extension granted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is conditioned by Togo’s commitment to “dedicate the resources freed by this initiative to measures aimed at curbing the health, economic, and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also committed to asking all other official bilateral creditors to treat debt service per the agreed schedule and its amendment.”
The decision should also enable Togo to “improve debt transparency and management.”
Séna Akoda
Togo is the best country regarding the promotion of women’s rights, in West Africa
Togo is the first country in the ECOWAS region and the 7th in sub-Saharan Africa to promote women both in business as well as in top public positions. This was revealed in the recently-published World Bank Women, Business and Law 2021 report.
With a score of 84.4 points, Togo came 7th over 10 in the SSA region, ahead of Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique. Togo’s performance is attributable to many reforms to improve women’s access to land and encourage entrepreneurship by setting aside 25% of public contracts for youths and women.
In 2020, 27% of all newly-registered businesses in Togo (3,426 in total) were owned by women, in line with the government’s ambition to have 28% of businesses registered in the country, by 2022, being owned by women and 44% of loan granted to businesses going to them.
In the public sector, Togo recorded major accomplishments with women leading the national assembly, the Prime Minister’s office, and the Presidency’s general secretary, among others. In this regard, Togo did better than Seychelles (76.3 pt) and is far ahead of its neighbors, Benin and Ghana.
At the top of the WB’s ranking are Mauritius, South Africa, and Zimbabwe whilst Eswatini, Guinea Bissau, and Sudan came last.
The Women, Business and Law 2021 report is a global ranking that assesses laws and reforms in 190 countries, looking at efforts made to eliminate gender-based discrimination and support women.
Séna Akoda