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Africa has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. In an attempt to replicate the remarkable public health successes of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, African governments were quick to institute draconian measures to curb the spread of the virus.
Unsurprisingly, the swift implementation of largely unprecedented public health policies – which included the proactive adoption of lockdowns, widespread adherence to social distancing guidelines, and the rapid shutdown of international travel – made a huge difference in the rate. of COVID-19 transmission in Africa, caseload and death rate.
Unfortunately, these measures, while undeniably effective, have resulted in significant economic turmoil across the continent. In a continent already plagued by poverty, underdevelopment, corruption, conflict and terrorism, the additional political pressure and systemic economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many African countries to the brink of collapse. In sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank projections indicate that some 23 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the state level, Nigeria has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic. To cushion the economic downturn, the Nigerian government has turned to its burgeoning tech sector.
So far, this decision appears to have been a good one. Even taking into account domestic poverty levels, Nigeria’s economy still outperforms most of Africa. In South Africa, supply chain disruptions and business inactivity in the hospitality and tourism sectors have resulted in a 7% year-over-year contraction in gross domestic product. For reference, the South African economy has not experienced any form of contraction since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
West Africa has experienced a similar deterioration in economic conditions. Since the start of the pandemic, the Ghanaian economy, long dependent on an export-centric oil and cocoa market, has practically collapsed. As global demand for export products fell off a cliff, Ghana’s GDP growth fell from 6.5% in 2019 to 0.9% in 2020. After the IMF adjusted the risk of debt distress Ghana’s sovereign debt also fell from 62.8% of GDP in 2019 to 76.7% in 2020.
This is not to say that the Nigerian economy has escaped the economic bloodbath and draconian public health measures unscathed. Like South Africa, the Nigerian economy recorded a 6.1% year-over-year contraction of GDP.
The steep and prolonged decline in global demand for oil has been particularly disastrous as crude exports generally provide Nigeria’s largest source of income. Due to the slow recovery in global demand for oil exports, millions of Nigerians have been unable to return to work.
As demand for crude oil slowly recedes, persistent labor shortages have prevented Nigeria from ramping up its local oil production. All things considered, given Nigeria’s long-standing dependence on crude exports, the economic fallout should have been much worse than a 6.1% contraction in GDP.
In many ways, the Nigerian economy has only been saved from further decline thanks to the continued success of its burgeoning tech sector. Based in Lagos, Nigeria’s fast growing tech sector has emerged as a hot market for fintech, e-commerce, information technology and telecommunications. Looking only at mobile subscription numbers and active Internet users, Nigeria is already Africa’s largest tech market. With the increase in digital literacy and internet connectivity, Nigeria has been targeted as a potentially lucrative frontier market for foreign investment by venture capitalists and angel investors.
This torrent of foreign investment has not only supported the country’s national economy, but it has also helped Nigeria become Africa’s unofficial capital for start-ups and entrepreneurship. As a result, Lagos alone is already home to over 400 start-ups with a valuation of over $ 2 billion.
Stimulated by strong institutional support, the Nigeriantech sector is actively working to resolve national and regional issues. Wellvis, a Lagos-based start-up that provides telehealth solutions across Africa, is a shining example of the emancipatory power of Nigeria’s new technology-centric economy. In March 2020, Wellvis launched an online COVID-19 triage tool. Developed using official case designation information from the Nigeria Center of Disease Control, Wellvis’s tool functioned as an easy-to-use self-assessment tool for categorizing COVID-19 risks.
Wellvis’s tool worked by prompting users to submit their travel and commuting history, geolocation data, and personal symptom assessment. Analysis of this information classified the user into low, medium, and high risk classifications, with each result tagged with appropriate educational resources and public health guidelines on the next step.
Once deployed for public use, Wellvis’s triage tool immediately reduced the number of mundane queries to overburdened disease control hotlines. More importantly, by reporting and alerting respondents at high risk for COVID-19, there is a good chance that Wellvis’s triage tool has ended up playing a significant role in reducing community transmission. across Nigeria.
As lockdowns ease and regional economic activity intensifies, Nigeria is well positioned to revitalize its labor market and rebound from its dismal GDP forecast. By tapping into a digitally connected population and a large foreign investment market, Nigeria can diversify from its dependence on oil exports and become a global hub for technological innovation and services.
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