Togo Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation, Cina Lawson has emerged as Africa Public Sector magazine’s “Minister of the Week”.
The highly-rated APS Minister of the Week is a weekly review of the performances of the African government’s ministers. It’s based on high scrutiny and data analysis of the ministers.
Cina Lawson is the government minister leading that push under the Togo Digital 2025 strategy. Lawson, who took up the post in 2013, is a veteran of telecommunications at companies like Alcatel-Lucent in Paris and Orange in New York and also worked in economic development at the World Bank.
Her focus in government has been on boosting the private sector’s involvement in Togo’s telecommunication industry by privatizing the incumbent phone company, stepping up data protection and cybersecurity initiatives and accelerating the deployment of high-speed internet nationwide. It’s an ambition that is highlighted by the Equiano cable, which has significantly boosted bandwidth availability in the country ahead of some of its larger neighbours in the subregion.
The rollout of a universal digital biometric ID by Lawson’s ministry underpinned the goal for e-government services, which came into focus in April 2020 as the Covid-19 lockdown took hold in Togo, as in most countries around the world. It enabled the digitization of government-to-people cash transfers called Novissi, a program to provide relief funds to informal sector workers unable to earn a living due to the restrictions.
Lawson’s agenda is to digitise Togo’s economy with an initial focus on logistics, agriculture, and banking. She’s focused on making the country an innovation hub for Africa.
