IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Nokia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) to drive digital transformation and the knowledge economy for socio-economic development across the continent.

The two parties will leverage the power of telecommunications, including 5G networks, to connect the unconnected and identify innovative use cases, as well as business models.

The goals seek to interconnect African capitals and major cities with broadband infrastructure, to connect African villages to broadband services, to adopt regulatory measures so as to promote affordable and widespread access to broadband services, to support the development of ICT skills, and to adopt national e-strategies.

At the recent Open Government Partnership summit in London, Sierra Leone applied for membership and participating governments made fresh announcements, such as Tanzania's President Kikwete committing to enact a freedom of information law.

Open-source-service business executives in South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania last week shared experiences of how technology businesses have grown at a Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) meeting in Ghana. Many of those involved in the business expect the open-source services market to get bigger within the year.

The programme has been flagged off at UCH, Ibadan, Africa’s designated super specialist hospital due to availabililty of experts in virtually almost all aspects of medical care. As a result of the commencement of the programme in UCH, African countries requiring information on medicine or expert management would be able to link with the hospital if they have a problem they cannot solve on their own.

Like most ambitious projects, this one too began as an idea, seemingly unachievable. In 2004, when the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, spoke at the inaugural session of the Pan-African Parliament in Johannesburg, the idea sounded fantastic. He proposed that all 53 nations of the African Union be connected through satellite and a fibre optic network with India to provide effective tele-education and telemedicine, not to mention Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), e-governance and e-commerce service.

The project, which would connect all the 53 nations of the African Union (AU) by a satellite and fiber-optic network, is to provide tele-education, tele-medicine, internet, Nideo-conferencing and VOIP services, and also support e-governance, e-commerce and effective communication among the nations.

The launching was made under the supervision of the Libyan Specialised Medical Field Council and the Post Offices, Telecommunication and Information Technology Holding in the presence of Jean-Pierre Onvehun Ezin, the African Union Commissioner in charge of Human Resources, Science and Technology.

At a recently held China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum, China’s Assistant Foreign Minister, Deng Li laid bare China’s proposal for the China-Africa Partnership Plan on Digital Innovation, which covers a wide range of areas previously highlighted by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping at the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19 in 2020 where he stressed that China will explore broader cooperation with Africa in such new business forms as digital economy, smart city, and 5G.

This year’s forum is akin to a follow up on the pronouncement of the Chinese leader last year and a demonstration of the significance the Chinese side places on the proposed areas of cooperation with Africa.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has demonstrated the government’s commitment to promoting e-Government in the country by launching an integrated registration system to consolidate population registration information into a single database for ease of verification by both Government and private bodies. With this tool, data on all people in Kenya can be found in one place.

This makes good the promise made by the Jubilee Government to provide a central database that identifies all citizens and foreign nationals in the country. The system has been dubbed the Integrated Population Registration System (IPRS). During its launch at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, the President said credible data was critical for development and indispensable for the planning and delivery of public services.

Promoting local languages and providing relevant, homegrown content could increase internet adoption across the African continent, a new report finds. The report (pdf), published by the Internet Society, a non-profit dedicated to internet policy, finds that despite the increased access to mobile and telecom infrastructure in Africa, internet adoption was still lagging behind.

The continent’s full connectivity is being hampered by the lack of pertinent programs targeting its mobile users, and the availability of those programs in their own languages, says the report. In Africa, mobile is still the primary way of getting online, given the low availability of fixed lines. However, the continent is the least connected region in the world, with only 303 million out of 565 million mobile users accessing the internet via mobile. This showcases that the “barrier to further adoption today is less of an infrastructural problem and more of a relevance one,” the report notes.

The President’s decision will forcibly push a flag-ship medical centre of excellence, the National Cardiothoracic Centre (NCC), under the auspices of incompetent and corrupt administrators who are eager to have access to an imagined pot of gold. Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, who almost singlehandedly established the NCC two decades ago, against formidable odds, is perceived by government officials to be hindering their plan to dismantle the autonomy of the NCC and placing it under the poorly managed and money-losing Korle Bu Teaching Hospital administration.

As Africa becomes increasingly digitally connected, the introduction of e-governance could be a tool that increases government efficiency, accountability, and transparency.

Countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Mauritius have already introduced national ICT policies that established centralized information data centers as well as installing a national fiber-optic backbone network that increased internet accessibility and affordability. Their ICT strategies recognize the sector as an enabler of socioeconomic development, political decentralization, and sound governance.

Africa stands at the cusp of a technological revolution, spearheading innovation in the regulatory and governance landscapes. Through the dynamism of RegTech (regulatory technology) and GovTech (government technology), countries across the continent are not only embracing the future but actively shaping it.

With technologies such as big data analytics and fraud management solutions, as well as the partnership between the public and private sectors, governmental bodies are empowered to efficiently navigate extensive datasets, identify potential risks, and detect instances of non-compliance.

By recognising the complexities of African urban life, smart city projects can evolve into inclusive spaces where tech serves as a means rather than an end.

As African cities experience unprecedented urban growth, the integration of smart technologies presents both immense opportunities and structural challenges.

Much of the dominant smart city discourse originates from Western technocratic models, emphasising efficiency, surveillance and top-down governance. While these approaches often overlook Africa’s distinct urban realities − where histories of colonialism, informality and socio-economic inequality shape how technology is adopted − they are not the only challenge.

He said: “It is clear that ICTs now form the basis for manpower development in a knowledge economy and there is the exigency to reposition Africa for the unfolding challenge for rapid growth.

“From East to West, North to South Africa, the growing inseparable link between ICT and the marketplace is captured by the rapid deployment of Economic Resources Planning (ERP) in the corporate world,” Dr Spio-Garbrah stated at a public lecture in Accra.

In an exclusive interview with MWN, UM6P professor Radoine challenges the dominant industry narrative, which often prioritizes technological bells and whistles over human-centered solutions and sustainable practices.

Africa is on the cusp of a historic urban transformation. By 2050, the continent’s urban population is projected to double, with cities becoming hubs of economic activity and innovation.