Stratégie Nationale d'Intelligence Artificielle et des Mégadonnées 2023-2027 (SNIAM) (Benin National Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Strategy 2023-2027)

The Stratégie Nationale d'Intelligence Artificielle et des Mégadonnées 2023-2027 (SNIAM, National Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Strategy) is Benin's first dedicated national AI strategy. It was approved by the Council of Ministers on 18 January 2023 and developed under the lead of the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation (Ministère du Numérique et de la Digitalisation). It is an aspirational policy and planning instrument, not binding law: it sets a vision and a costed action portfolio rather than creating enforceable legal obligations. The dates recorded here reflect Council of Ministers approval/publication in January 2023, not legislative enactment; no AI-specific statute had been enacted in Benin as at this draft. The strategy treats digital technology as a pillar of economic and social progress and adopts a holistic, needs-driven approach focused on technological solutions for priority sectors including education, health, agriculture, the living environment (cadre de vie) and tourism. It is organised around four programmes delivered in three phases across the five-year horizon, with a portfolio of 123 concrete actions impacting both public and private sectors. The estimated implementation cost is approximately 4.68 billion CFA francs (FCFA 4,680,000,000) over five years. The SNIAM action plan aims to embed AI and big data into public administration, the private sector and society more broadly, building on Benin's relatively strong regional position (cited as third in West Africa on the Oxford Insights AI readiness assessment at the time). Practical initiatives associated with the strategy include AI projects to give Beninese local languages a digital existence. The strategy's emphasis on big data and data governance connects it to Benin's existing personal-data framework under the 2018 Digital Code. Institutionally, Benin has since signalled deeper ambitions, with the Wadagni government creating a ministry specifically charged with the national AI strategy in 2026, a development post-dating the strategy document itself. Source language: French (an official English-language version of the strategy is also published by the ministry).

1. 1SNIAM 2023-2027 approved by the Council of Ministers on 18 January 2023, led by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Digitalisation
2. 2Organised around four programmes delivered in three phases over a five-year horizon
3. 3Portfolio of 123 concrete actions impacting both the public and private sectors
4. 4Estimated implementation budget of approximately 4.68 billion CFA francs (FCFA 4,680,000,000) over five years
5. 5Priority sectors: education, health, agriculture, the living environment (cadre de vie) and tourism
6. 6Objective to integrate AI and big data into public administration, the private sector and wider society
7. 7Associated initiatives include AI projects to give Benin's local languages a digital existence