This brief evaluates the current state of enabling institutions, policies, and citizen engagement, in fostering greater data value creation in the public sector. Based on our analysis of selected sub indicators from the World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI or the Index), we observe that while African countries are investing more in the digital transformation of their public sector, governments in the region have mainly focused on strengthening digital infrastructure to optimise public sector operations and service delivery, but have recorded mixed results in terms of the overall achievement of enabling institutions, policies and citizens’ involvement to harness the potential of public sector data.

This policy insights examines the potential impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and its underlying agreement, on biodiversity, agriculture and food security in Africa. It highlights the significant benefits that the implementation of the agreement promises to bring, particularly in the agricultural sector, and the potentially negative effects on Africa’s biodiversity, smallholder farmers and the environment. To mitigate these potentially negative effects, this policy insight recommends various policies aimed at supporting biodiversity-based agriculture, establishing a common approach to intellectual property rights protection, regularly assessing compliance with multilateral environmental
agreements, promoting access to biodiverse and nutritious produce, and investing in
capacity development, research and partnerships.

This paper was first publised by SAIIA. READ MORE

This policy insight highlights the impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on various sectors of the African economy and identifies some of the factors limiting the responsible adoption and growth of this technology in Africa. This brief further provides key policy considerations on how Africa can effectively employ the potential of generative AI to drive innovation, productivity, economic growth, and development in the continent. Through infrastructural development, capacity building and regional collaboration, Africa can harness generative AI's transformative power while ensuring its deployment is ethical, inclusive, and aligned with Africa’s unique challenges and goals.

The progress and advancement of any given nation is significantly dependent on its human capital, which is cultivated through the provision of high-quality basic education. This is established in the definition of education, which links it to the stock of skills, competencies, and other productivity-enhancing characteristics. Thus, the prioritisation of basic educational policies that tackle significant learning challenges is imperative for propelling human capital advancement in Nigeria.

Tobacco control policy refers to the efforts made to reduce the impact of tobacco use on public health. This can include measures such as increasing taxes on tobacco products, implementing smoke-free laws, running anti-smoking campaigns, and providing support for people who want to quit smoking. In Nigeria, the government played a critical role in the country's tobacco control efforts by ratifying the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which commits the government to take appropriate measures to reduce tobacco use and its associated health effects.

At the federal level, the government enforced tobacco control policies that apply to the entire country. The policies in this regard include higher taxes on tobacco products, Public smoking bans, regulations on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, and mandatory graphic health warnings on tobacco packages. Furthermore, the government allocated resources to support tobacco control programs and campaigns, monitor the impact of tobacco use and the effectiveness of tobacco control policies.

This brief highlights the importance of state involvement in tobacco control efforts. It seeks to provide evidence-based recommendations through the WHO MPOWER framework on how state governments can effectively implement tobacco control policies and programs that will protect their residents from the harmful effects of tobacco use.