Benin introduces six territorial poles to drive local development

President Romuald Wadagni has unveiled a new territorial development reform in Benin, centered on the creation of six regional poles: Grand-Nokoué, South-East, South-West, Center, North-East, and North-West. This initiative aims to reduce extreme poverty, strengthen human capital, and stimulate local wealth creation.

Under the new structure, the 77 existing communes will retain their mayors, councils, and executive secretaries. However, they will now be grouped into these six economic basins to better manage complementary assets and large-scale projects. Each pole will be led by a resident General Delegate responsible for monitoring field results and reporting progress or obstacles directly to central authorities based on predefined indicators.

The reform focuses on economic logic rather than administrative restructuring. For example, the North-East pole is intended to focus on livestock and the Cotonou–Niamey logistics corridor. The government plans to evaluate the performance of these poles after one year of operation. The President has also called for increased local investment from officials from these regions and stricter local management of public cleanliness and maintenance.