vendredi 4 avril 2025
jeudi 3 avril 2025
ADDRESS TO THE NATION BY HIS EXCELLENCY MR. BASSIROU DIOMAYE DIAKHAR FAYE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF SENEGAL’S INDEPENDENCE
SPEECH - 2025 APRIL 03
My dear compatriots!
Tomorrow, April 4th, we will celebrate together the 65th anniversary of our country’s accession to international sovereignty. To each and every one of you, I extend my warmest congratulations. In this moment of national communion, I hold a heartfelt thought for all the “jàmbaars” who fell on the field of honor and for all the loved ones we have lost. I also express, on behalf of the entire Nation, my compassion for the suffering of those battling illness or going through difficult times. This year again, the Independence Day celebration takes place under the banner of spiritual communion, in the midst of Christian Lent and on the heels of the blessed month of Ramadan. These moments of intense spiritual fervor and grace remind us that faith is our greatest treasure and that it nourishes, day after day, our exceptional ability to live together in fraternity, harmony, and diversity.
Let us give thanks to the Almighty for this fortunate coincidence and pray together that He accepts our devotions and continues to watch over the Senegalese people. In the face of the challenges of our times, the values inherited from our ancestors call on us to always unite our strengths in the crucial moments of our History. We must do everything to preserve this precious legacy, which forms an essential part of our intangible heritage. This is the spirit of our unshakable will to live together, so well encapsulated by our national motto: One People – One Goal – One Faith. My dear compatriots, it has now been 65 years since we took our destiny into our own hands. 65 years since Senegal proudly asserted its sovereignty. 65 years since Senegal has pursued its march toward progress, despite the turbulence of the world. Driven by the ideal of a free, sovereign, just, and prosperous Senegal, the successive conquests of rights and freedoms have laid the foundations for a fruitful democratic model that grows stronger, day by day, through dialogue. This democratic maturity allows the various political and social actors in our country to express themselves freely, to compete fiercely when necessary, but always to recognize the verdict of the sovereign People.
Today, more than ever, we must harness this driving force to correct what needs to be corrected and give substance to the aspirations of our people and the hopes of our youth. My dear compatriots, April 4th is also the celebration of our Defense and Security Forces. It is an opportunity to pay tribute to all our Jàmbaars, the pillars of our Nation and the ultimate bulwarks of our peace. To your elders and all our former combatants, I reiterate the infinite recognition and gratitude of the entire nation. This year’s theme, “Toward the Technological and Industrial Sovereignty of the Defense and Security Forces,” reflects our collective ambition and the high level of expectation we have set for ourselves in supporting you in your mission.
Dear members of the Defense and Security Forces, men and women of duty, you are the guarantors of our peace and the tireless protectors of our sovereignty. With honor and selflessness, you embody the very essence of the Army-Nation concept. Your daily presence alongside the population, your active commitment to national security, the fight against natural disasters, and the preservation of our strategic resources make Senegal a nation armed to better shape its own destiny.
To this end, the technological and industrial modernization of the logistical and material resources of our Defense and Security Forces, essential to our sovereignty and collective security, is at the heart of our priorities. My dear compatriots, it has been a year since we embarked on a profound transformation of our country, rigorously and lucidly conducting an uncompromising diagnosis of the economic situation. While the current situation reveals even greater challenges that we must overcome, the duty of truth forms the foundation of the systemic break we have undertaken with determination and responsibility. Already, the Government has resolutely committed to a vast array of reforms.
These aim at optimizing local finances, ensuring a transparent budgetary policy, rationalizing expenditures, and efficiently managing debt to preserve the sustainability of public finances. My dear compatriots, significant efforts have been made to clear, over a four-year period, the arrears owed to certified operators for seeds and agricultural equipment, amounting to more than 80 billion CFA francs.
Out of a total of 113 billion recorded at the end of 2024, a sum of 70 billion was disbursed by the end of March 2025. The same applies to the construction sector, where payments of 62.08 billion in arrears have been made, with an additional 66.7 billion planned in the 2025 Finance Law. Finally, the settlement of back payments, though not exhaustive, reached 19.53 billion CFA francs by the end of March 2025, benefiting 9,479 teachers. This is complemented by the regularization of 1,198 contractual teachers and professors, with an annual budgetary impact of 5.79 billion CFA francs. To strengthen and actively support women’s economic empowerment, Phase 2 of the DER’s PAVIE program, with a budget of 107 billion CFA francs, will be launched in the coming days.
It will be coupled with an ambitious innovative program of 3,000 integrated farms across 15,000 hectares nationwide, combining agriculture and livestock. Thus, starting this year, 2025, we will launch the innovative Community Agricultural Cooperatives program, structures designed to enhance the production capacities of farmers and breeders, particularly youth and women, and facilitate their access to markets. These advances, achieved despite budgetary constraints, lay the groundwork for ambitious prospects. My dear compatriots, in a context marked by resource scarcity, only non-negotiable budgetary discipline allows us to confidently undertake the necessary recovery of our public accounts.
The imminent full transition to the Integrated Financial Information Management System will also strengthen the integrity of budgetary and financial operations and ensure strict oversight of state assets. This strategy is reflected in our constant efforts to tangibly reduce the cost of living, with the continued lowering of prices for essential goods, while preserving the quality of life for Senegalese people in terms of health and the environment. These reductions, as I recently announced, will continue, by the grace of God. With our country’s recent entry into the era of oil and gas production, we will ensure that these strategic resources are exploited with transparency and absolute respect for the environment, for the benefit of the Senegalese people. As part of the reappropriation of our sovereign resources, the renegotiation of contracts is proceeding as planned.
The results achieved so far are more than satisfactory and will be communicated to the Senegalese people at the appropriate time. Aware of the priority of universal access to water, we have initiated the rural borehole phase and launched feasibility studies for the “Great Water Transfer.” This highly structuring project, like others under the “Water Highways” initiative, will contribute to securing the drinking water supply for nearly 15 million Senegalese. In the same vein, we are accelerating rural electrification projects to rapidly achieve universal access to electricity.
To this end, we are rigorously overseeing the execution of projects to ensure deadlines are met and costs controlled, notably through the renegotiation of major contracts enabling the electrification of an additional 2,740 localities. Regarding land management, an unprecedented audit has led to corrective measures currently being implemented. From now on, the management of land assets is conducted with rigor, transparency, and responsibility, gradually putting an end to land squandering practices while ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of national resources. This momentum will continue with the resumption of consultations on the delicate yet necessary and inevitable land reform.
My dear compatriots, the efforts made to implement the Casamance peace agreements bear witness to our commitment to our coexistence, our restored fraternity, and the deep unity of the Senegalese nation. With the “Diomaye Plan for Casamance,” we have embarked on an irreversible process of reconciliation and the dignified return of displaced populations. Our coexistence, rooted in cardinal values, is our shared treasure.
That is why national cohesion remains my sole and only compass. Convinced that a nation’s strength is also measured by its capacity for dialogue, I place particular importance on social dialogue and ongoing consultation with all components of our society. This is why I recently instructed the Prime Minister, Mr. Ousmane SONKO, to organize a major national consultation with social partners. Together with religious and customary authorities, civil society, the private sector, and all the vital forces of the Nation, we will tirelessly pursue this participatory and inclusive approach. In doing so, we materialize our commitment to ensuring ever-strengthened national cohesion, the indispensable foundation of the just, supportive, and prosperous Senegal we all aspire to. I am pleased to inform the Senegalese people that transparency laws have been finalized and are in the process of being reviewed for their upcoming examination in the Council of Ministers. Furthermore, the work of the ad hoc committee tasked with implementing the consensus from the justice consultations is progressing smoothly.
To date, the organic law project related to the Constitutional Court, the constitutional revision project, the organic law project related to the Superior Council of the Judiciary, and their respective integral decrees have been finalized and submitted for validation. Texts establishing the judge of freedoms and detention, as well as amendments to the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, particularly regarding prosecutor returns, will follow shortly. In the wake of these consultations, I announce that the theme of the next National Dialogue Day will focus on the political system.
The draft terms of reference, already finalized, will be transmitted as soon as possible to all stakeholders for amendments and contributions, to better prepare the proceedings. My dear compatriots, the state of our country’s public finances, as revealed by the audit, requires us to first rely on ourselves to turn the situation around. We are fully capable of doing so, and we will succeed with the mobilization of each and every one of you!
Indeed, the history of nations teaches us that the path to development demands collectively accepted sacrifices so that better tomorrows may come. I therefore call on each and every one of you to demonstrate resilience, active solidarity, and patriotic commitment in the face of the numerous and complex challenges before us. Looking in the same direction—toward the near future of our children—must be the unifying horizon of all our energies.
Together, fortified by our unity and determination, we will build the just and prosperous Senegal we aspire to.
Long live sovereign Senegal! Long live a united and upright Africa! Happy Independence Day to all!
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2025
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS - 2025 APRIL 02
The Head of State, His Excellency Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar FAYE, presided over the weekly Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at the Palace of the Republic.
At the outset of his address, the Head of State extended his warm congratulations and best wishes to the Islamic Ummah on the occasion of the celebration of Eid El Fitr (Korité), marking the end of the blessed month of Ramadan. In this special moment, he prayed alongside the entire Nation for a Senegal of peace, stability, and prosperity, rooted in justice and solidarity. He commended the Government and state services for their efforts in ensuring the control of supplies and prices across the national territory.
On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, the President of the Republic took his oath of office before the Nation, marking the start of his tenure. On this Wednesday, April 2, 2025, the anniversary of his ascension to the highest office, he congratulated the Prime Minister, Mr. Ousmane SONKO, and the entire Government for the exceptional work of rectification and recovery carried out tirelessly during this pivotal year. In the context of the systemic transformation underway, he urged the Prime Minister, Head of Government, to take all necessary measures to accelerate the implementation of projects, programs, and reforms in each ministry, prioritizing social dialogue in line with the guiding principles and objectives of the Vision for a sovereign, just, and prosperous Senegal.
The Head of State places great importance on fulfilling the political commitments he made to the Nation. In this regard, he reiterated his directives concerning the sustained improvement of living conditions for the population, particularly in rural areas, by promoting access to basic social services (water, electricity) and universal health coverage, while ensuring an effective fight against the high cost of living through optimal regulation of goods and services markets. In this spirit, he praised the significant efforts made by the Government, which led to a price reduction, effective April 4, 2025, of a kilogram of rice from 450 FCFA to 350 FCFA, a decrease of 100 FCFA. He instructed the Prime Minister to expedite, alongside the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Livestock, and the Secretary of State for Cooperatives and Farmer Support, the deployment of the National Food Sovereignty Strategy through optimal preparation for the upcoming 2025 agricultural production campaign and the finalization of the revision of the agro-sylvo-pastoral law.
Furthermore, it is imperative to develop all mechanisms to strengthen the Social and Solidarity Economy, as well as the community cooperatives launched, and to intensify the effective establishment of Territorial Poles.
Additionally, the President of the Republic requested the Prime Minister and the Ministers of National Education, Vocational and Technical Training, and Higher Education, Research, and Innovation to take all necessary measures to ensure the smooth conduct of teaching, examinations, and competitions scheduled across the national territory.
In anticipation of Labor Day on May 1, 2025, the Head of State urged the Government and social partners to finalize the new social stability pact, essential for establishing, under the best conditions, Senegal’s attractiveness, the development of the private sector, the revival of the national economy, and the deployment of innovative strategies and policies to promote employment. He informed the Council that he will preside over the opening of the 4th Social Conference in April, dedicated to the theme of youth employability and employment.
The President of the Republic emphasized that in this crucial new phase of the country’s governance, exemplary management of public finances remains vital. The same applies to the restructuring of the financing systems of our economy in their entirety and diversity. Accordingly, he instructed the Prime Minister to intensify, alongside the Minister of Finance and Budget and the Minister of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation, the economic, budgetary, financial, and administrative reforms necessary to restore and enhance the lasting credibility of our economic and financial system. In this drive for renewal and change, he asked the Government to thoroughly prepare the legislative agenda, as well as the upcoming budget orientation debate, with a new endogenous strategy for managing public finances. On this same note, he reminded the Government of the imperative to build, through consensus and trust with stakeholders, a new model of governance for our economic and financial system, to reform our administrations, and to overhaul the public sector based on a systematic culture of results, in order to effectively and exemplarily realize the collective ambition of a sovereign, just, and prosperous Senegal.
Senegal will celebrate the 65th anniversary of its independence on April 4, 2025, presided over by the Head of State at the Place de la Nation in Dakar. This ceremony will feature a military salute followed by a large-scale civil and military parade. The national holiday is a major event in the republican calendar, highlighting the role and place of the Army and youth in the construction and development of the country. The President of the Republic paid a heartfelt tribute to our veterans and Defense and Security Forces, who continuously ensure the protection of the national territory, the safety of people and property, and contribute to Senegal’s international standing.
This year, Independence Day will be marked by a historic decision by the Head of State to name an iconic thoroughfare in the capital—the General De Gaulle Boulevard—after President Mamadou Dia. As a reminder, this artery, formerly known as Allées Coursins, hosted the second April 4 parade (1962) by decision of Mamadou Dia, then President of the Council. Mamadou Dia, alongside Modibo Keita, was notably a co-signatory of the competency transfer agreements of April 4, 1960, which enshrined the independence of the Mali Federation (Senegal and Sudan) with General Charles De Gaulle, President of the French Republic and the French Community.
Addressing the issue of preserving the attractiveness of the national tourism sector, the Head of State reminded the Government of the urgent need to take all required measures to ensure the safety of people and property at tourist sites, zones, and establishments across the national territory.
Moreover, following a joint meeting between the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security and the Ministry of Tourism and Crafts, it is urgent to establish a Special Tourism Police Station and to reinforce it with adequate human resources and equipment. The Ministers in charge of the Interior, Armed Forces, and Tourism will ensure the pragmatic implementation of a new policy to secure tourist sites. An interministerial council on the revival and development of the tourism sector will ensure comprehensive handling of this issue.
In his address, the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government, first offered prayers for the President of the Republic on the occasion of the first anniversary of his swearing-in, coinciding precisely with April 2. He expressed his congratulations and those of the Government to the Head of State for his leadership, foresight, and determination in carrying out his noble mission. He reaffirmed the Government’s commitment and loyalty to achieving his vision of a sovereign, just, and prosperous Senegal.
The Prime Minister then paid tribute to Professor Fatou Samba NDIAYE, Head of the Clinical Hematology Department at the Dalal Jamm National Hospital Center, and her teams, who successfully performed Senegal’s first bone marrow transplant. He welcomed this achievement, which fully aligns with the dynamic of national sovereignty promoted by the Senegal 2050 Vision.
Addressing the first point of his communication, the Prime Minister returned to the persistent issue of regulating rents for residential premises, which remains ineffective, particularly in the urban area of Dakar, despite regulations in place since 2014. Given the ongoing tensions over rent, the primary expenditure for households in several urban centers, the Prime Minister stressed the need for an in-depth analysis of the factors sustaining these tensions. Beyond reviewing regulatory mechanisms, the reflection should focus on the availability of reliable data on housing supply and demand, as well as alternative instruments to encourage landlords to set rents consistent with the corrected surface methodology. He also highlighted structural factors to consider, such as shortcomings in urbanization policies and urban hubs, as well as the very limited implementation of social housing access programs.
Based on these observations, the Prime Minister instructed the Minister in charge of Commerce, in collaboration with the Secretary of State for Urban Planning and Housing, the Minister of Finance and Budget, and the General Secretariat of the Government, to conduct a thorough evaluation of this matter and propose, by the end of June 2025, realistic and effective actions to amend the regulatory provisions on rent control for residential premises, following an inclusive process with all stakeholders.
Addressing the second point of his communication, the Prime Minister emphasized the urgency of strengthening the internal control system within the public administration to address notable and recurring shortcomings and irregularities in the governance of the public and parastatal sectors. He noted that this situation is particularly exacerbated by dysfunctions in implementing best practices in internal control to limit risks, particularly operational risks.
To this end, the Prime Minister instructed the Minister, Secretary General of the Government, to establish, under the Office of Monitoring and Coordination of the General Inspectorate of State at the Prime Minister’s Office, a working group tasked with assessing the situation and proposing an action plan to improve the functioning and effectiveness of internal inspections within ministries by no later than the end of June 2025. Pending this, he requested that Ministers provide him with an update on the execution level of the 2025 internal control program during the first quarter and ensure regular coordination meetings within ministerial departments dedicated to periodic internal control reports.
UNDER THE MINISTERS’ COMMUNICATIONS:
The Minister of Industry and Commerce provided an update on the work of the National Consumer Council;
The Minister of National Education made a presentation on school infrastructure;
The Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Livestock addressed the status of the peanut marketing campaign.
Amadou Moustapha Njekk SARRE Minister of Vocational and Technical Training, Government Spokesperson
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