
Interview with Cina Lawson, Minister of the Digital Economy and Digital Transformation. This former World Bank consultant is successfully working on one of the priorities of the government's roadmap, which places digitalization at the heart of the country's modernization.
What are the priorities for consolidating your regional leadership in digital transformation?
Togo aims to become a service hub and an international center for innovation and digital expertise. The "Togo Digital 2025" strategy is a key link that fits seamlessly into the coherent and strategic framework of the government's 2020-2025 roadmap, of which nearly two-thirds of the 42 projects identified as priorities have a digital component.
Today, several million Togolese lack any identity documents. This hinders their daily activities, especially for simple tasks such as accessing credit or social security. In this regard, the e-ID Togo biometric identity project will promote the inclusion of these populations and their access to basic public services and credit.
This is why the Togolese must be identified by 2025. This is the whole point of the reforms undertaken in recent years, which aim to use technology to offer all public services to Togolese citizens, create a favorable environment for businesses and investors, and accelerate the development of an innovation ecosystem.
This political will, coupled with a strong capacity to carry out in-depth reforms within society, has earned Togo an integral part in all African initiatives aimed, in particular, at streamlining communications in the West African sub-region and thus facilitating regional integration by removing all financial or technical obstacles, such as Smart Africa or Free Roaming.
The digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate issued in Togo is recognized in the European Union, a first in sub-Saharan Africa. How did your ministry become a major player in the fight against the pandemic?
The recognition of the Togolese certificate by the European system attests to the importance for our country of building interoperable digital solutions that meet international norms and standards.
The Togolese government has indeed implemented an effective population vaccination strategy that places Togo among the best-vaccinated countries in the sub-region. Indeed, more than one million people, or 25% of the Togolese target population, have already registered on the digital platform for enrolling and monitoring vaccinated people, set up since the start of Togo's vaccination campaign.
In recent years, the operationalization of innovative initiatives has definitively convinced us that it is thanks to the digital tool that our country is capable of producing a real socio-economic transformation in line with the direction of history.
The vaccin.covid19.gouv.tg platform was established and operationalized as part of the population vaccination program. It provides Togolese citizens who have already received the two scheduled doses with a truly recognized vaccination passport, authorizing them to travel to many countries around the world.
In the worrying health context that saw the closure of borders, it was also necessary, on the occasion of their reopening, to reassure travelers, by putting in place a system allowing them to travel with complete peace of mind. This is the voyage.gouv.tg platform, which requires a PCR test both upon entering and leaving the national territory.
What does the Lomé Data Centre bring to businesses?
The Lomé Data Centre offers economic operators, particularly national SMEs and SMIs, as well as investors, a credible and reliable alternative allowing them not only to access very high-speed internet bandwidth, but also to achieve substantial savings compared to the heavy investment in equipment and human resources required by a private data centre. The technological choices on which it is based in terms of reliability, security and quality standards make it one of the most efficient in West Africa.
As such, it constitutes a major critical infrastructure and is of strategic importance, not only with regard to the growth dynamics of our country, but also as a powerful lever in achieving the objectives of the 2020-2025 presidential roadmap.
From this perspective, the Lomé Data Centre presents challenges that go well beyond data storage and increased security, as it is an extension of the key initiatives initiated to digitize our economy. Beyond that, it is consistent with the ambition to make Togo an attractive digital hub for investors, while ensuring the country's digital sovereignty.