Data seen by TechCabal suggests this decline is primarily due to a steady core inflation rate of 3.4% in both periods. The main driver of this core inflation was the rise in service prices, which jumped to 5.5% for the year ending March 2024, up from 5.4% in February 2024.

The increase in service prices was linked to higher passenger transport costs, rising to 2.6% in March 2024 from 1.2% in February 2024. Financial services also saw a significant jump, reaching 13.4% in March 2024, compared to 0% in February 2024. This notable growth in financial service inflation warrants further investigation, and it is unclear if the government has taken specific measures in this sector.

Read more: Kenya’s March inflation drops to 5.7% as KES gains against the US dollar

Inflation for other goods was lower, reaching 1.6% for the year ending March 2024, down from 1.8% in February 2024. Relatively stable prices for most goods drove this slowdown, save for dried kapenta (silver cyprinid), popular local gin (waragi), and goat meat, which saw price increases in March 2024 compared to February 2024.

“Meat prices increased by 14.0 percent in March 2024 compared to 9.3 percent recorded in February 2024,” a report from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics states. 

Energy inflation 

Uganda’s annual energy and fuel inflation slowed to 7.6% in March 2024 compared to 8.0% in February 2024. This moderation was thanks to decreased price increases for charcoal, firewood, and petrol.

At the same time, the slowdown in energy and fuel prices suggests potential government interventions to stabilise fuel prices or promote alternative energy sources.

Kenya’s High Court has paused the roll-out of Maisha Namba, a proposed digital ID system set to replace the failed Huduma Namba. The court, through Judge John Chigiti cites the lack of a data protection impact assessment as the reason for the suspension. 

The court ruling reads: “The leave granted by the court operates as a stay restraining implementation or further implementation by any person of the respondents’ 1 November 2023 decision to roll out or pilot Maisha Namba,” including the digital card, digital ID, unique personal identifier, and a National Master Population Register before and without a data protection impact assessment, per section 31 of the Data Protection Act.”

READ MORE: Next Wave: Maybe Africa needs to pause its rush to adopt digital IDs

Maisha Namba was proposed by the state through the ICT minister Eliud Owalo, who argued that the previous digital ID programme, Huduma Namba, was flawed and failed to communicate its intent to Kenyans. The Huduma Namba project cost the state KES 10 billion and received criticisms from multiple digital rights groups before it was eventually dropped.

To address its shortcomings, the new administration led by President William Ruto sought to patch these issues via Maisha Namba, which would have started pilot tests in December 2023. However, the project still failed to meet the demands of the public, such as extended participation. Digital rights groups, including Access Now and the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, questioned whether the government had performed a robust data protection impact assessment before launching the service. “It cannot, however, be ignored that a transition of this magnitude comes with pitfalls that must be addressed,” said the rights groups in a joint statement, “especially if the design and implementation process is not conducted in a transparent, inclusive, and human-rights-centered manner.” 

Per the digital rights groups, there were concerns about transparency and a shaky legal basis, a limited nationwide public participation, and data protection uncertainty. The groups also cited that there was no evaluation of risks related to the exclusion of many Kenyans and the speed of the planned roll-out. 

William Ruto, Kenya’s President, has confirmed that the Startup Bill 2022, which seeks to provide employment opportunities for Kenyan youth and tax breaks for startups, will be signed into law by April 2024. The announcement was made during the Kenya Innovation Week (KIW), attended by the president and other government officials. “By March, or April next year, we will have a firm startup law in Kenya, which will assist many of our innovators de-risk their innovations and turn them into businesses,” Ruto said in his address.  

The startup bill has been in the Senate since 2021; it was introduced to the legislative by the current Nairobi governor, Johnson Sakaja. It received its first reading in February 2023 and is currently undergoing further discussions in the Senate.

READ MORE: The Nigeria Startup Act has been approved

The bill will offer incentives to registered startups, including tax breaks. It further proposes a platform for startups to access information on resources and support. There will be a plan for a credit guarantee scheme to provide financial support and training for startup growth.

If passed, the startup bill will also establish a legal framework to boost tech growth, foster innovation, and attract talent and capital. This will involve key roles for national and county governments, such as promoting innovation, facilitating tech transfer, creating jobs and wealth, and connecting research institutions with businesses.

Kenya is struggling to offer employment to its large youth population, most of whom are currently jobless. “The youth are the overwhelming majority of millions of unemployed Kenyans,” the president said. Despite the efforts of the SME sector, which has been employing over 80% of the youth annually, one key problem exists—small businesses and enterprises, while crucial in providing job opportunities, struggle to be sustainable as nearly 75% of them close shop after a short period.

Amidst scarce job opportunities, Ruto acknowledged that young Kenyans have played an instrumental role in creating startups and successfully closing funding rounds with global firms. “The youth continue to sustain innovation in our economy, with youth-driven startups securing $700 million last year,” the president added.

“Microsoft will assist the government with the responsibility of adopting a cloud-first strategy, transforming public service delivery through the adoption of technology and improving efficiencies in provision of e-government services for citizens,” said a statement from the ICT Authority (ICTA), which witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft, alongside the ICT ministry. 

The Kenyan government started digitising most of its services such as immigration applications as soon as President Ruto began his tenure in August 2022. Over 14,000 services, such as those offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been onboarded to the e-Citizen platform. The e-Citizen portal allows Kenyans to access the services available through various agencies. With Microsoft’s help, taking the services to the cloud will improve efficiencies in providing the services to citizens.

Microsoft is one of the oldest technology companies in Kenya. It set up an ADC office in Nairobi in 2019 and has been forming partnerships with other local organisations such as universities. The American tech corporation has also been instrumental in revising the computer science curriculum in Kenyan colleges.

Other cloud providers, such as Huawei, have also been working with the government, but in different capacities. For instance, Huawei is one of the companies helping the country expand fibre coverage under the National Optic Fibre Network Backhaul Initiative (NOFBI). 

AWS launched a development centre in Nairobi, a second in Africa after opening one in Cape Town, South Africa. President Ruto said that the centre would be key to “bolstering its corporate citizenship credentials through its support for a robust framework to anchor optimal interactions between government, clients, start-ups, and other partners.”

Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, announced at TechCabal’s Moonshot conference on October 11, that the ministry was going to train three million technical talents over the next four years. The minister said he would use a 1-10-100-model. This means training 1% of the three million in three months, then 10% over a defined period, then 100%. Days later, the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) portal was launched.

TechCabal visited the 3MTT website, hosted by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and powered by Prembly, a Nigerian compliance and security infrastructure company.

The website is easy to navigate, with the three primary segments —about 3MTT, how to apply, and FAQs— hanging on the top right corner. A significant feature missing from the website is an accessibility tool. The white and green colour-themed website may be difficult to use for people with varying degrees of visual impairments.

While checking the website, we found some important information for applicants and anyone interested in the 3MTT program. Some of the information is inserted into extra documents embedded on the website. For instance, if you’re wondering where the tutors will come from, or what their registration is like, we have the answers.

Courses

In the first phase, 3MTT will focus on twelve technical skills, namely; Software Development, UI/UX Design, Data Analysis & Visualisation, Quality Assurance, Product Management, Data Science, Animation, AI / Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Game Development, Cloud Computing, and Dev Ops.

These courses were selected in light of Bosun Tijani’s vision of positioning “Nigeria in the top 25% percentile in research globally across six pivotal Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technological domains, including artificial Intelligence (AI), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, blockchain, and additive manufacturing”.

3MTT fellowship application process

The fellowship is a five-stage application process where applicants will be asked to submit bio-data, contact information, background skills & employment status, training program choices, and finally a confirmation page to ensure the accuracy of data.

It took us five minutes to complete an application form.

A useful feature while selecting the course on the form is that prospective fellows get to see a summary of what their program entails, while also filling in what level of expertise they currently have. Perhaps, this will be used to separate fellows when the program starts.

The process is completed after a candidate submits either their National Identification Number (NIN) or Bank Verification Number (BVN). An email is sent to candidates immediately, informing them that they’ll hear back if selected.

3MTT trainers’ application process

One of the technology minister’s objectives is to “increase the level of digital literacy of

our population to 70% by the end of 2027”. To support this, the 3MTT is looking to utilise as many talented people as it can access. Hence, it has a portal for trainers to join the 3MTT program.

The trainers will support the program’s first three months and help to define a model that will be replicated during the 10% and 100% phases. Trainers are expected across the 12 courses.

The 3MTT has a training providers requirements document which says trainers will create curriculum and training methods, provide proof of training experience, with a preference for trainers with internship model experience, be able to use a hybrid teaching system that’s inclusive, have the capacity to operate in chosen states or regions and create learning benchmarks with at least 80% completion rates among fellows.

While the process for the trainers is important to get the best, we wonder if Nigeria’s tech ecosystem currently boasts of enough trainers to handle three million people training on this scale.

Placement

One of the extra requirements for trainers is that they must have the ability to provide placement for fellows within their care. This means the ministry expects the trainers to be organisations and not individuals.

The 3MTT program demands that training providers should be able to place at least 50% of fellows in jobs that match their skill level within three months of completing the program. What this means for fellows is that the majority of them are assured of a job opportunity or internship at the end of their program. 

To ensure continuous growth, the 3MTT portal says providers have to “accurately evaluate the impact of the training on these individuals. It is essential for providers to have a system that periodically tracks the development of the fellows alongside their employers”.

Timeline

The program started with a call for fellows and training providers on October 13 and will move to the selection phase from November 1, 2023. The program will kick off on November 15, and will run for three months.

The program uses an iterative model that will take lessons from one phase to improve the next phase. While the first phase is expected to end by February 2024, a new timeline will be shared as the 1% stage ends. 

Partners can join the program

The program is calling for partners who want to sponsor the 3MTT program through direct or indirect funding, equipment, physical spaces and other infrastructural support, device support, local and international job placements, support for programme execution, and other forms of support possible.

Interested parties can apply to be sponsors here.

An easy guess is that where program trainers are unable to find employment for all fellows, the partners will support them by helping with placements.

FAQs

The homepage ends with an FAQ section for fellows and trainers. It answers questions like the form of financial support available, among other important things.

Yesterday, President Bola Tinubu nominated Yemi Cardoso to head Nigeria’s Central Bank. Cardoso will be the 11th CBN governor if successfully confirmed by the Senate. He will succeed Godwin Emefiele, whose suspension and dramatic removal still raise legal questions. The nomination of the 66-year-old banker will revive the argument on whether bankers or economists make for better Central Bank governors. While Cardoso is a banker—he served as Chairman of Citibank—some of Nigeria’s more celebrated CBN governors have been economists. 

The primary test for Nigeria’s next CBN governor is price stability. In six years, the CBN has done poorly at controlling inflation, with last month’s inflation numbers reaching an 18-year high. Godwin Emefiele suggested that greedy middlemen were the drivers of high prices. His time as governor was notable for expanding loans to the federal government, CBN-funded agricultural schemes, and artificially pegged exchange rates. 

Many of the policies Emefiele pursued in his time as governor seemed to have the nod of President Buhari, calling the bank’s independence into question. Emefiele was also criticised for a short-lived attempt to run for the Presidency while he was CBN governor. Observers have similar concerns about his successor, Cardoso.

A partisan CBN governor?

In 2015, Cardoso was one of three names considered as Vice President to Muhammadu Buhari. “I was asked to submit three names, Yemi Cardoso, Wale Edun, and Yemi Osinbajo, but I told them if I submit three names, they would play a game, they might make it four and pick the fourth one. I gave them one name and that was Osinbajo,” Tinubu explained in the buildup to the 2023 elections.

The new CBN governor is a long-term associate of Tinubu; he was appointed Lagos State’s Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in 1999 but did not complete his tenure as Commissioner because he won the Michael Romer Memorial Scholarship. Some political experts claimed that Cardoso would have been nominated as deputy governor of Lagos following Senator Bucknor Akerele’s exit if he had not taken up the scholarship. Instead, Femi Pedro became deputy governor. 

Despite questions about partisanship, Cardoso’s accomplished career with Citibank and Citizens International Bank and his academic and professional accomplishments will give some hope that he may make a good CBN governor. But like Wale Edun, who was appointed finance minister, he may have to shake off claims that his appointment is a continuation of Tinubu’s emerging pattern of placing his old allies in strategic teams. 

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In the latest evaluation by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), fuel costs in Kenya have, for the first time, surpassed the KES 200 ($1.36) mark. With yesterday’s price adjustment, the new pump rates will be KES 211 ($1.44) for super petrol, KES 201 ($1.37) for diesel, and KES 202 ($1.38) for Kerosene per litre. “The prices are inclusive of the 16% Value Added Tax (VAT) in line with the provisions of the Finance Act 2023, the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act 2020 and the revised rates for excise duty adjusted for inflation,” EPRA said in a statement.

These changes follow the Kenya government’s decision to discontinue fuel subsidies and emphasise the influence of market dynamics on pricing within the country. At the same time, the changes are driving conversations among Kenyan citizens, who have taken to social media platforms to voice their concerns about the significant hike in fuel costs, expressing their fears about the added financial burden. Some have pointed out that this situation punishes those who supported the Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza administration despite prior warnings. On the other hand, a select number of people affiliated with the administration have come to its defence, arguing that the recent price adjustments align with the global trend of soaring fuel prices.

Trade and industry cabinet secretary Moses Kuria has warned Kenyans of further fuel hikes in the upcoming months. According to Kuria, fuel prices within the nation will receive consistent increments of at least KES 10 ($0.07) per month until February 2024. Kuria said via his X profile, “Global Crude Prices are on an upward trajectory. For planning purposes, anticipate a monthly rise of Ksh.10 in pump prices until February.” Assuming this will happen, Kenyans will pay up to KES 250 ($1.70) in fuel by then.

Three years ago, a litre of petrol cost KES 104 ($0.71). A few months back, it surged to KES 196 ($1.33). As of today, the cost has further escalated to KES 211 ($1.44). This represents a staggering jump of over KES 100 ($0.68) or more than double the price from three years ago.

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On Monday, the Lagos state government launched its blue line, a 27km intra-city line connecting Okokomaiko to Marina and the first light-rail system in the city. Governor Babajide Sanwoolu was one of first passengers on Monday on a light rail system that has only been partially delivered after its conception in 2008. Yet the blue line will still have to wait four weeks to be electrified while it is still in testing phase, said the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). Presently, the train is pulled across its electric tracks with a diesel locomotive.

LAMATA told TechCabal that the situation is temporary. “What I don’t want us to be saying is that it is not electrified because people may want to run across the tracks,” Abimbola Akinajo, LAMATA’s Managing Director said. “The tracks are currently electrified.” 

While the blue line waits, to be electrified, the 37km red line, which is expected to be operational by the end of the year, will run on diesel. The red line stretches from Agbado to Ebute Meta and connects with the blue line at Marina. 

While the blue line will eventually have eleven stations, only five stations from Mile 2 to Marina, have been launched as phase one of the plan. Akinajo said the second phase of the blue line comprising six stations from Okokomaiko to Festac would be completed in three and a half years. “What we really want to do is add two more stations. We would include Alakija, Festac and bring that into operations in 18 months.” 

The Blue line is not open on both sides but currently operates like a monorail from Mile 2 to Marina. According to LAMATA, the both sides of the railway will work jointly once it is switched onto electric.

Passengers worry about the price point

Three passengers told TechCabal that they love the experience; the average travel time from Mile 2 to Marina is 20 minutes with a last mile provision at Marina to take you into Falomo, TBS  and Victoria Island. However the price point is still a concern. While a ticket from Marina to Mile 2 is N750, the state government is providing a 50% discount until the end of the year. Akinajo said the system must generate enough to sustain itself. “Let’s start with what we have,” Akinajo told TechCabal. “Transportation is important. When we are able to move, the economy of Lagos grows.”

In its unelectrified state, it carries a thousand passengers. The train is expected to carry 175,000 passengers daily with five stations in operation and will 500,000 passengers when the blue line is fully complete.

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Edo State has officially transitioned to a paperless mode of communication in its civil service—the first Nigerian state to do so. According to a government circular seen by TechCabal, the state governor, Godwin Obaseki directed his office to reject physical files from any ministry, department, or government agency. This development is Edo’s latest move in pursuit of its goal to become Nigeria’s first fully e-governed state before September 1st, 2023. Last month, the Edo state government held a one-week digital transformation training for over 3,000 workers. It also launched a digital policy project.

Edo is betting that its automation of work processes will reduce backlog and free up government resources. A former media aide to the state government told TechCabal, “About six million documents have been archived digitally and the goal is for state operations, including interface with the public, to be initiated and completed online.”

With the transition to a paperless approach, communication in the Edo State civil service is expected to become faster, reducing administrative burden, and enabling quicker decision-making and response times. However successful implementation requires investing in digital infrastructure, ensuring data security, and more importantly, providing training for employees to adapt to new technologies. In 2021, the state government began the digital registration of all workers across the 18 local government areas of the state. 

Digitising public service remains an important step in improving the delivery of all government services. It not only increases the effectiveness of the government business but also sets up a framework for e-governance. According to a McKinsey report, digitization has the potential to unlock over $3.5 trillion of economic value for the government and public sector.

While Edo appears to be leading the charge, the federal government has long committed to going paperless. In January 2022, the then minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Pantanmi disclosed that the federal government spent a total of N152 billion on digitisation in 2021. In August, immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari and five governors endorsed a framework for the harmonisation of the digital economy and e-governance initiatives at federal and state levels. This July, Nigeria’s Head of Civil Service, Folasade Yemi-Esan said all ministries, departments, and agencies will be fully digitised by 2025. It’s worth watching if the other 35 states will take a page from Edo’s playbook and digitise their civil service. 

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When news broke last week that Bosun Tijani has been named Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, members of the Nigerian tech community were excited. Tijani’s appointment validates the growing tech industry. But what has been overlooked is that two tech-focused ministries oversee technology and the digital economy. The Communications and Digital Economy Ministry will create policies impacting Nigeria’s digital economy. The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology will facilitate developing and deploying science and technology to drive Nigeria’s economic growth. Both ministries are an offshoot of the now-defunct Ministry of Information and Communications.

While Tijani will man the communications and digital economy ministry, Uche Nnaji is the minister of innovation, science, and technology. The former is expected to lead the implementation of two landmark policies—the Nigeria Startup Act and the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy, while the latter will focus on improving research and development in line with the national development plan  2021-2015. 

In essence, Tijani will drive policies that directly impact Nigerian startups, while Nnaji will promote the use of science and technology across board. Based on President Tinubu’s policy document, Tijani will drive policies that will create one million new jobs in the ICT sector, among other things. At the same time, Nnaji will take on the implementation of government digital services. However, it remains to be seen how the new administration intends to pull these off. 

A non-technical tech minister?

Tijani’s appointment signifies a new order in the Nigerian polity, but Nnaji’s is the opposite. The two ministers are expected to lead Nigeria’s digital revolution through policies and reforms. As such, sufficient experience in the tech industry is a no-brainer for the offices. 

Judging by his campaign manifesto, President Tinubu is bullish on the potential of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, but his choice of a non-technical tech minister is interesting. Uche Nnaji Nwakaibie is a Nigerian politician and businessman. He was the governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu state at the 2023 general election. He lost the polls to Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to a profile included in his campaign manifesto, he has spent decades in the healthcare sector, specialising in the importation and procurement of healthcare equipment and technologies. He was reportedly the youngest and the first African to procure a computerized tomography (CT) scan in Nigeria in the mid-1980s.

He later ventured into politics and got elected as senator representing Enugu East senatorial zone in 1999 but unconditionally relinquished his seat. Nnaji also holds a record in public service, serving as a board of directors member at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).