Benin: Facing the youth, Patrice Talon with an open heart but closed ears

From the get-go, Patrice Talon took control of the format, turning the dialogue exercise into a lengthy monologue. Regularly instructive and often professorial, he outlined his vision of development with the confidence of a captain who knows his trajectory. But in his effort to explain, he also dodged, as this “lecture” posture sometimes overshadowed the initial intention of listening.

A Top-Down Pedagogy, More Than a True Exchange

When asked about job insecurity, the Head of State preferred to defend a policy of labor market deregulation. He suggested that protecting jobs would hurt competitiveness and scare off investors. According to him, the priority should be given to creating massive jobs through private investment, even if it means relaxing some protections for workers. For the president, “it’s better to deregulate jobs to create jobs, than to regulate jobs and create none.” He acknowledged, however, that employee security also depends on the quality of their performance and the competition between employers in a dynamic environment.

A stance that relegates social guarantees to the background, and which obscures a reality. In Benin, growth does not create enough decent jobs, let alone lasting ones.

Instead of acknowledging these warning signs, the president, in most cases, reformulated them to better integrate them into his argumentative logic. At no point does he seriously question the direction of his economic policies. Instead, he justifies them point by point, even trivializing some social sacrifices.

He defends an economy where the quality of the worker should ensure his stability, not the law; where laws must above all secure investors, not balance social relations. A clear ideological stance, but one that overlooks a well-known reality. Namely, that the majority of young graduates do not have access to entrepreneurship and struggle to find their first job, let alone a decent one.

A Belated Admission of Failure on Technical and Vocational Training

The president acknowledged his failure to implement his ambitious plan for technical and vocational training. He even described it as his “biggest frustration.” He regretted that this ambition was not prioritized earlier in his terms, even though, he reassured, “everything is ready now” for the construction of about sixty technical schools throughout the country. A reform he hopes to see deployed in the next 18 to 24 months, aiming by 2035 for 7 out of 10 young people to be trained in a practical trade.