On 17 May each year, Benin, like the other Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), celebrates World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
This day, which marks the anniversary of the signing of the first international convention, also serves as a reminder of the importance of policies and strategies in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and of the relevance of issues relating to the information society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
“Digital technologies for older persons and healthy ageing”, the theme chosen for the 2022 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, calls on public authorities to commit to harnessing the opportunities that digital technology offers today to improve the lives of older people, their families and those around them.
Although the international community is working towards it, the equitable access to Information and Communication Technologies that it seeks is not yet a reality. Nearly half of the world’s population still has no access to the internet. This digital divide, which all States are striving to reduce, affects older people among others.
In Benin, since 2016, the vision of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Patrice TALON, which is to “transform Benin into the digital services platform of West Africa to accelerate growth and social inclusion”, has been translated into a number of projects that are already having an impact on citizens’ daily lives. Today, thanks to the National Public Services Portal, “service-public.bj”, people can access comprehensive information on more than 796 listed services, 139 of them digitised, without having to travel.
The Government of the Republic of Benin has also taken steps to ease the burden on State employees who have become entitled to retire. Electronic payment of pensions is now a reality. Since 2017, all pensions of 50,000 CFA francs or more have been paid systematically by bank transfer (banks, CCP and FECECAM). Pensions of less than 50,000 CFA francs are paid by Mobile Money. These reforms have improved the living conditions of these employees who served their country for many years but who, until the twilight of their lives, had to endure administrative hassle to collect their retirement pensions.
Access to digital technology for all, regardless of geographical location, gender or age, is also an issue at the heart of the Government’s action. The roll-out of broadband and very high-speed internet has increased in recent years, in particular through the construction of more than 2,000 km of optical fibre across almost the entire national territory, and the construction and commissioning of 43 Community Digital Points (PNC), among other achievements that have brought broadband closer to several thousand of our fellow citizens.
The theme of the 2022 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day gives us an opportunity to look not only at the significant progress made in digital transformation in our country, but also at continuing our reflection on reducing the digital divide in a world now marked by the COVID-19 health crisis and a succession of geopolitical crises.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The promise of digital transformation, which lies at the heart of the Head of State’s vision as set out in the PND (National Development Plan) and the PAG, and which is one of the priority areas of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is to leave no one behind. Achieving this ideal inevitably requires achieving “Leave no one offline”. To this end, I would like to remind us that digital technology must be seen as a solution for improving our habits in many areas of daily life. I therefore take the opportunity of this day’s celebration to invite the players in the digital ecosystem to strengthen their commitment to developing a benchmark digital economy in Benin.
I wish you all a happy 2022 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day
Aurelie I. ADAM SOULE ZOUMAROU
Minister of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation