E-Business
The Hanke’s Misery Index: How Africa’s Economic Challenges Are Holding Back the Continent Part 3
By Evans Woherem, Ph.D
Addressing the Root Causes
The section highlights the urgent need to address the root causes of poverty and economic challenges in many African nations. It emphasizes the importance of decisive action, effective leadership, and learning from successful examples to overcome these challenges and foster sustainable development.
The section also covers various key areas, including addressing immediate challenges, implementing sustainable economic strategies, promoting infrastructure development and regional integration, and the significance of unity among African nations.
- Addressing Immediate Challenges
Addressing the immediate challenges faced by African nations, as highlighted by the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index of 2022, is crucial. This section emphasizes the importance of tackling inflation, unemployment, and poverty-contributing factors to create an enabling environment for economic growth and improved well-being. To overcome these challenges, decisive action and effective leadership are required, prioritizing the well-being of citizens and implementing sustainable economic policies.
In order to accelerate development, African countries need to learn from successful examples. By studying countries that have transformed their economies and improved living standards, Africa can adapt their strategies and adopt a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach. This approach should include economic reforms, investments in education and skills, promotion of entrepreneurship, strengthening of institutions, improvement of infrastructure, and fostering regional cooperation.
By addressing the challenges highlighted by the Misery Index, African nations can create a favorable environment for economic growth and improved well-being. Effective leadership, learning from successful experiences, and implementing a comprehensive approach are essential for overcoming the present challenges and setting Africa on a sustainable path of development and prosperity.
- Implementing Sustainable Economic Strategies
To foster sustainable economic growth in Africa, it is crucial to address the root causes of economic challenges with comprehensive and innovative strategies. This includes implementing prudent fiscal policies to combat inflation effectively, controlling government spending, managing public debt, promoting transparency and accountability, and tackling waste and corruption in government spending. Additionally, creating sustainable employment opportunities through investments in sectors with growth potential, promoting entrepreneurship, vocational training programs, and public-private partnerships can empower individuals and drive economic progress.
Political stability is paramount for long-term economic growth. Fostering peaceful and inclusive societies, resolving conflicts through dialogue, and strengthening democratic institutions are key aspects to focus on.
By promoting the rule of law, protecting human rights, ensuring citizen participation, and establishing transparent governance structures, African nations can create a favorable environment for investment and sustainable development, attracting investments and encouraging the establishment of transparent governance structures.
Facilitating affordable and accessible credit is vital for stimulating investment and economic growth. African governments should work towards creating an enabling environment for credit access by implementing sound financial regulations, promoting competition among financial institutions, improving financial literacy, and empowering individuals and businesses with favorable credit terms through measures like credit guarantees for small enterprises.
- Promoting Infrastructure Development and Regional Integration
To achieve a sustainable future, Africa must prioritize infrastructure development and regional integration. Addressing Africa’s reliance on imported energy sources is a critical aspect of this endeavor.
By promoting decentralized renewable energy systems, such as mini-grids and community-owned projects, Africa can provide electricity access to remote areas while involving local communities in renewable energy initiatives.
These decentralized systems not only reduce dependence on imports but also yield cost savings, enhance energy security, lower emissions, and stimulate local economic growth. Successful implementation of these projects necessitates government support, financial incentives, and collaboration with the private sector.
In addition, digital connectivity and financial inclusion are instrumental in driving economic growth and development in Africa. By expanding broadband infrastructure and leveraging blockchain technology, Africa can revolutionize access to digital services, e-commerce, and education, thereby uplifting millions of lives.
This expansion of internet access extends the benefits of online banking, e-commerce platforms, and educational resources to underserved rural communities, fostering communication and collaboration between businesses and government agencies. Blockchain technology ensures secure and transparent financial transactions, effectively curbing fraud and corruption and bolstering trust in financial systems. Together, digital connectivity and financial inclusion empower Africa, promoting inclusivity and prosperity.
Furthermore, sustainable infrastructure development plays a crucial role in building a greener and more efficient future for Africa. By prioritizing green infrastructure projects, such as renewable energy-powered transportation systems and energy-efficient buildings, Africa can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and generate employment opportunities in the clean energy sector. Integrating smart city concepts further enhances efficiency by leveraging technology to optimize traffic flow and monitor energy usage, promoting sustainable urban development.
To drive economic progress, regional integration and trade promotion are vital for Africa. Strengthening regional economic communities encourages collaboration, reduces trade barriers, and harmonizes regulations, facilitating cross-border investments.
Developing robust transport and logistics networks enhances connectivity, enabling seamless movement of goods and services between businesses and markets. By promoting cross-border investments, Africa can leverage new technologies, skills, and job opportunities, fostering sustainable growth and development across the continent.
In conclusion, promoting infrastructure development and regional integration is crucial for Africa’s sustainable future. By focusing on decentralized renewable energy systems, digital connectivity, sustainable infrastructure, and regional collaboration, Africa can overcome challenges, drive economic growth, and foster prosperity.
- Uniting African Nations for Economic Progress
The unity and cooperation among African nations through regional or continental integration are paramount for driving economic progress. Currently, intra-Africa trade represents just 14.4% of total African exports. However, according to forecasts from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has the potential to boost intra-Africa trade by approximately 33% and reduce the continent’s trade deficit by 51%. The relatively low levels of intra-regional trade in Africa compared to other regions like Europe (69%), Asia (59%), and North America (31%) underscore the need for enhanced collaboration within the continent.
The urgency for African countries to unite at the regional or continental levels cannot be overstated. Many African nations lack the necessary size and strength to effectively operate on their own. Encouragingly, the ongoing efforts made by East African countries towards unity serve as an inspiring example for the rest of Africa, emphasizing the importance of cooperation in addressing pressing economic challenges. Prompt adoption of the East African model by other African countries and regions is essential.
The African Union (AU) has already taken significant strides in tackling economic challenges through initiatives like the AfCFTA, African Agenda 2063, and the development of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System by the African Export-Import Bank. These commendable efforts deserve recognition and support as they hold tremendous potential to drive Africa’s development. It is crucial to effectively implement these projects within their designated timeframes.
Successful execution of these initiatives would not only enhance intra-Africa trade but also contribute to overall economic growth and prosperity in Africa. Given the urgency of the situation, it is imperative for all African countries to unite and collectively overcome the obstacles that have hindered their progress.
Investing in critical areas such as inflation management, unemployment reduction, poverty alleviation, entrepreneurship promotion, political stability, affordable credit, renewable energy, digital connectivity, sustainable infrastructure, and regional integration is vital for Africa’s development.
By adopting a comprehensive approach and drawing inspiration from successful examples, Africa can reduce poverty, improve the quality of life, and stimulate economic growth. Effective leadership, innovation, and a commitment to learning from successful experiences are essential in paving the way towards a prosperous and inclusive future for Africa. The unity of African nations is the key to unlocking the continent’s economic potential.
Conclusion
The economic challenges faced by African countries, as evidenced by the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index of 2022, highlight the urgent need for comprehensive and targeted strategies to address the root causes of these issues. Factors such as inflation, unemployment, political instability, and poor governance have a profound impact on the well-being and development of African nations. To overcome these challenges and unlock Africa’s economic potential, a multi-faceted approach is necessary.
Addressing inflation requires prudent fiscal policies, control over government spending, transparency, and accountability to combat rising prices. High unemployment rates, particularly among the youth, call for investments in education, vocational training, entrepreneurship promotion, and public-private partnerships to create sustainable job opportunities. Political stability is crucial for long-term economic growth, and it can be fostered through peaceful and inclusive societies, resolving conflicts, and strengthening democratic institutions.
To stimulate investment and economic growth, affordable and accessible credit must be facilitated through sound financial regulations, competition among financial institutions, and favorable credit terms for individuals and businesses.
The promotion of decentralized renewable energy systems can reduce Africa’s reliance on imported energy sources, improve energy security, and foster local economic development. Digital connectivity, financial inclusion, and the adoption of blockchain technology can revolutionize access to digital services, e-commerce, and education, promoting inclusivity and prosperity.
Sustainable infrastructure development, prioritizing green projects and smart city concepts, is essential for building a greener and more efficient future in Africa. Regional integration and trade promotion play a vital role in economic progress by fostering collaboration, reducing trade barriers, and enhancing connectivity. In fact, Africa needs to unite into confederated countries in order to maximize its potential and its place in the committee of nations.
By investing in these areas and adopting innovative strategies, Africa can address the root causes of economic challenges, reduce poverty, and promote sustainable economic growth. Effective leadership, learning from successful examples, and a commitment to comprehensive development are crucial in transforming the economic landscape of Africa and improving the livelihoods of its people. With the right policies and actions, Africa can pave the way for a prosperous and inclusive future.
Nigeria’s weak data protection guardrails may undermine the recent directive by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to banks, fintech firms, and other payment service providers to store payment transaction data generated within the country local servers.
CBN said that the new rule will start from January 1, 2027, as part of new measures to strengthen oversight of the fast-growing digital payments ecosystem.
This will also provide the country greater control over critical data infrastructure, allowing authorities to easily access records, conduct audits, enforce compliance, and investigate, especially in cases where criminal offenses are involved, reducing delays often caused by intermediation between local and foreign entities.
Apart from data sovereignty, the CBN added that moving transaction records from foreign servers will help drive investments in local data centers and cloud storage capacity.
Though reliable estimates are hard to come by, it is believed that Nigeria loses over N60 billion in hosting data in foreign servers.
But a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs), has raised concerns over safety measures in place to protect data of Nigerians, despite having data protection laws in place.
The coalition, comprising Media Rights Agenda, Paradigm Initiative, Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative, and Accountability Lab Nigeria, among others, released the “Protected From the State, Not By It: Nigeria’s Data Protection Crisis Is a Crisis of Implementation,” where they criticized regulators’ failure to effectively enforce data protection laws, which led to rising cases of digital fraud and rampant illegal sale of sensitive information.
There have been leaks of sensitive voter, financial, and personal records.
For instance, there was alleged unauthorized access to the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during a nationwide CVR exercise.
INEC earlier released the preliminary findings of its investigation into the matter, saying that it found no external breach of its systems and that the personal information of over 90 million registered voters was not compromised.
Despite this, CSOs argued that the incident underscored the lack of oversight, adding that it showed that while data privacy laws are in place, sensitive information can be easily moved from a secure government database and into the hands of private political entities.
The coalition also pointed out regulators’ failure to conduct human rights impact assessments on public surveillance systems before related programs were deployed, urging the government to act on these issues by subjecting public institutions to the same compliance requirements as private organizations.
“This is the asymmetry at the heart of the crisis: citizens are under-protected from data abuse and over-exposed to state monitoring and punishment,” the CSOs stated.
Additional report by coingeek
Visa, a multinational firm into payment card services says Artificial intelligence enabled scams have emerged as the fastest-growing source of consumer payment fraud globally as cybercriminals increasingly target people.
Visa stated this in its Mid-year 2026 Biannual Threats Report released on Wednesday in Lagos.
The report said scammers were increasingly using AI tools and social engineering tactics to manipulate consumers into authorising fraudulent payments themselves.Premier League Fixtures
It indicated that from July to December 2025, Visa identified nearly one billion dollars in scam-related activity, making scams the largest category of consumer payment fraud.
According to the report, fraudsters now impersonate trusted brands and institutions, create a sense of urgency and deceive victims into completing seemingly legitimate transactions.
The report said stronger network-level security had reduced opportunities for direct system compromises, forcing criminals to shift their focus to exploiting human trust.
It revealed that fraud involving device tokens declined by 9.6 per cent between July and December 2025, compared with the same period in 2024.
The report identified accelerating scams, growing use of AI in fraud, migration of attacks from technology to people, and evolving ransomware trends as key developments shaping payment security.
It stated that global ransomware activity rose by 26 per cent during the review period compared with the corresponding period in 2024.
However, only 23 per cent of ransomware victims paid ransoms, the lowest level on record, reflecting improved resilience and recovery capabilities, according to the report.
Commenting, Mr Paul Fabara, chief Risk and Client Services officer, Visa, said that payments at network level continued to get safer, but threats were evolving faster than ever
Fabara said criminals were increasingly using deception, urgency and AI-enabled tools to exploit trust, requiring stronger collaboration across the payments ecosystem.
Also, Andrew Uaboi, vice president and Cluster head, Visa West Africa, said AI had significantly lowered the barriers to entry for fraudsters.
“What once required deep technical skill can now be executed with a prompt,” Uaboi said.
He said intelligence-driven defence and coordinated action across the ecosystem were becoming increasingly critical to protecting consumers from emerging threats.
Kaspersky has released its Sustainability Report for 2024–2025, outlining how the company is working toward a safer and more resilient digital future.
The report reflects Kaspersky’s broader commitment to responsible business — protecting people and organisations from cyberthreats, supporting law enforcement cooperation, investing in secure technologies, and helping strengthen the digital resilience of societies and economies.
In 2024-2025, the company continued advancing digital sustainability and strengthening global cyber resilience, reducing thedisruption, financial losses and social risks caused by cyber incidents, and enabling safer and more stable conditions for digital adoption across economies and societies.
Over the period, the number of detected advanced persistent threat (APT) groups and operations has increased significantly — by 74% compared to 2023, supported by intelligence gathered through five dedicated Expertise Centers.
Building a safer cyberworld
A significant part of Kaspersky’s social impact comes from the company’s cooperation with global law enforcement agencies. During the reporting period, the company contributed to joint operations with INTERPOL and AFRIPOL that resulted in the arrest of more than 2,600 suspected cybercriminals.
From a sustainability perspective, this shrinks the opportunities attackers can exploit — making digital environments safer for governments, businesses and individuals, and lowering the long-term economic and social costs associated with cyber incidents.
During the reporting period, Kaspersky formalised its collaborations with AFRIPOL, signing a five-year cooperation agreement, and delivered cybersecurity training to law enforcement representatives from 23 African countries, covering the fundamentals of Security Operations Center (SOC) operations and advanced threat hunting techniques.
This capacity-building work has a compounding effect: as local teams become more capable of independently detecting and responding to threats, the overall resilience of the digital ecosystem increases, while the cost and duration of cyber incidents decrease over time.
Implementing future tech
To effectively protect people, businesses and public institutions from evolving cyberthreats, Kaspersky constantly improves its security solutions and conducts cybersecurity research to stay one step ahead of attackers.
In 2024–2025 the company was granted 155 patents, including 135 AI-related ones. Its global R&D team of around 3,000 employees also produced 373 research publications. Together, these efforts help advance the baseline of secure technologies available to the market.
This reduces systemic vulnerability in digital infrastructure and supports more stable technological adoption at scale.
Responsible innovation frameworks further reinforce this effect. By joining the European Commission’s AI Pact and supporting the UN Global Digital Compact, Kaspersky has aligned its development practices with emerging global governance standards.
This contributes to sustainability by helping reduce the risks of unsafe AI deployment, such as misuse, bias or system exploitation, which could otherwise undermine trust in digital transformation.
The company’s Cyber Immunity approach, implemented through KasperskyOS, adds another layer of long-term sustainability impact by shifting security from reactive protection to architectural resilience.
Instead of repeatedly patching vulnerabilities, systems are designed to be inherently resistant to compromise, which reduces maintenance overhead, lifecycle risk and resource inefficiency in securing digital environments.
Among the new product launches, the Kaspersky eSIM Store expanded the company’s offering beyond cybersecurity into mobile connectivity. By reducing reliance on physical SIM cards and making global mobile access more seamless, the solution supports more sustainable travel and digital lifestyles.
Together with that, Kaspersky also released Kaspersky Cloud Workload Security for protecting cloud workloads wherever they reside: on servers or virtual machines, or in private, public, or hybrid clouds, etc.
“At Kaspersky, we see cybersecurity not only as a technology issue, but as a social one. Every day, people rely on digital services to work, communicate, study, receive services and manage their lives and they need to be able to do this safely.
“That is why our sustainability agenda starts with our core expertise: protecting people, organisations and critical systems from cyberthreats. But it also goes further — through responsible innovation, transparency, partnerships and support for communities.
“This report shows how our technologies, research and cooperation with partners translate into practical impact: fewer risks, stronger resilience and a safer digital environment for everyone,” said Maria Losyukova, Head of ESG & Sustainability at Kaspersky.
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