A major argument for advocating for a participatory approach in developing Africa’s data policies and systems stems from the underlying drivers and principles guiding data governance. These principles cut across several themes such as human and digital rights protection, transparency and accountability, that are geared towards engendering greater confidence in the data ecosystem, for more purposeful development outcomes. In view of this, it is impossible for policy makers to effectively protect citizens’ data rights without extensive collaboration with, and input from the people being protected. But how can the public be active in data policy processes and systems or hold responsible parties accountable if they are not fully aware of their rights and responsibilities?

This report was written by Tomiwa Ilori

Tobacco consumption is associated with about 29,472 deaths in Nigeria alongside other health and economic impact. Meanwhile, evidence has shown that exposure to health warnings reduces tobacco consumption by providing information about the risks of tobacco. Consequently, evaluating the effect of affixing health warnings on cigarette packs on prevented premature deaths and disease events, years of lives lost due to premature death and disability, and savings in health costs is important in the Nigerian context.

Aim: The paper sought to estimate the health and economic implications of existing, new, and the WHO-recommended labelling policies in Nigeria.

Data and Methodology: The data utilized include costs, demographic, epidemiologic and economic data. An individual-level microsimulation model was employed to examine the impact of the current cigarette labelling policies (text only health warnings); new cigarette labelling policies (text and graphic health warnings with the total display area covered increasing from 50% to 80% over 10 years); and the WHO-recommended labelling policies (plain packaging and health warnings covering at least 80% of the pack).

This paper analyses the fiscal policy measures adopted by African countries in response to COVID-19 and how these impact progress on their climate change actions of the countries. Specially, it analyses the climate friendliness of the immediate fiscal responses that were adopted by six African countries namely: Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Benin when the pandemic first hit. The analysis focuses on measures that were included as part of the fiscal stimulus packages designed to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic while acknowledging that countries may have undertaken more climate change action outside of these packages. Our Donor This project is supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The IDRC is a Canadian federal Crown corporation. It is part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts and invests in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve the lives of people in the developing world. 3 COVID-19 Fiscal Policy Response and Climate Change Action in Africa It is found that while the focus of countries was to minimise macroeconomic vulnerabilities and welfare losses, some of the measures adopted have implications on the climate response of the respective countries. Nigeria, the only country among the six with clean energy spending in its stimulus package, had an overall green stimulus package. South Africa, the biggest polluter among the six countries (and in Africa) adopted a climate neutral package while Uganda, the least polluting country of the six adopted a climate unfriendly package owing to its acceleration of the construction of environmentally unfriendly industrial parks. Lastly, Tanzania, Senegal and Benin had no climate related policies, thus making their stimulus packages climate neutral. Looking at the policy measures in the stimulus packages, opportunities are identified for these countries and others in Africa to exploit and move towards a greener recovery. These include expanding the packages to include clean energy projects financed through green financing facilities, imposing carbon taxes to help consolidate their deteriorating fiscal positions while simultaneously reducing pollution, and contributing to the development of green finance segments by putting in place a regulatory framework to incentivise financial market players to develop and issue green products.

This article was first published at SAIIA

Globally, tobacco consumption continues to cause a huge burden of preventable diseases. Nigeria has been leading tobacco markets in Africa and the absolute number of active smokers remains one of the highest on the continent. Yet, little is known on the economic costs of cigarette smoking in Nigeria which prevents an effective policy response.

This study seeks to address this gap by estimating the economic costs of tobacco use across different groups, as well as the cost-effectiveness of tobacco tax interventions. The study consists of three separate undertakings that taken together, provide personal anecdotal evidence of the detrimental effects that tobacco consumption has in Nigeria; estimate the direct costs associated with tobacco related diseases; and use an innovative methodology to estimate the indirect costs of tobacco-related illnesses, which were previously unavailable in the country.

This inception report focuses on the emerging trends in Africa’s digital and data environment. The study builds a case for mobilizing action at both regional and national levels, to strengthen data governance frameworks in Africa, particularly in view of the ongoing regional economic integration initiatives under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). We advocate for stronger data policies in Africa as a development tool for bridging identified gaps that could put the region at a disadvantage, and as a means of building greater confidence which is a requirement for growing the digital economy. The findings suggests that while the potential of digital technologies is yet to be fully exploited in Africa, the region has witnessed a surge in the use of digital platforms and tools in recent years. This has influenced the ease and manner in which data gathering and exchange occurs, resulting in heightening concerns around potential data abuse. In response, national efforts and domestic legal frameworks on data governance are gradually increasing in Africa, although rather slowly as there are still significant policy gaps. While the magnitude of the data policy gaps vary across different member countries, African countries have so far largely been unable to match the pace of change in the new data driven global economy. There is also a lack of uniformity in policy approaches being adopted by member states.