Benin Appoints AI Doctorate Holder to Lead National Digital Transformation

Benin has appointed Mahuna Akplogan, an engineer with a doctorate in artificial intelligence, as Minister of Digital Transformation and Innovation, giving the government a minister with direct technical AI expertise overseeing its national strategy for the technology.

A technical appointment

The appointment marks a deliberate shift by Benin's government toward embedding specialist AI knowledge at the cabinet level, rather than folding AI policy into a broader, generalist digital-economy portfolio. Akplogan's academic background in artificial intelligence positions him to steer both regulatory questions and the country's growing set of AI skills and innovation programmes.

Part of a broader AI push

The appointment sits alongside a series of other Beninese AI initiatives through 2026, including the École d'Été sur l'Intelligence Artificielle — West Africa's largest annual AI teaching event, run in partnership with the Fondation Vallet, Bénin Excellence and the UNDP — and the government's National AI and Big Data Strategy adopted for 2023-2027, which set out Benin's initial roadmap for AI adoption across the public sector.

International outreach

Beninese officials have continued to court international AI partners under the new ministerial structure, including talks in Porto-Novo in September 2026 between the President of the National Assembly, Joseph Fifamin Djogbénou, and Canadian AI firms IMDS Software and Éthique AI on potential cooperation.