June 20, 2022
Africa: Continent's Smaller Cities Are Usually Overlooked - They Shouldn't Be
Often when one thinks or writes about urbanisation in Africa, mega-cities or primary cities like Lagos, Nairobi, Addis Ababa or Kampala, come to mind. Little, however, is written… Read more »
Nigeria: Sex Workers in Nigeria Deserve Fair Treatment From the Media
In most African societies today, social, cultural, economic and political forces continually place women in the back seat. While there is much focus on the physical abuse of women,… Read more »
June 19, 2022
South Africa: What's Driving the Surge in South Africa's Fuel Price
Increases in the domestic price of fuel are big news in South Africa, with the price of petrol, diesel and paraffin reaching new highs. The underlying reason for the price… Read more »
June 14, 2022
South Africa: Electric Vehicles in South Africa - How to Avoid Making Them the Privilege of the Few
In the early 1900s, automobiles took the streets of industrialised cities by storm, rapidly displacing horse-drawn vehicles. Fiercely contested at first, the internal combustion… Read more »
June 16, 2022
Africa: Children's Mental Health and the Digital World - How to Get the Balance Right
Technology has increasingly blurred the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. This has led to dramatic shifts in daily life and changed the way children and… Read more »
June 13, 2022
Africa: Twitter Town Square - What Elon Musk Could Learn From Aristotle
Elon Musk, the world's richest man and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, recently made an offer to buy the social media network Twitter for $44 billion. In a statement Musk declared Read more »
South Africa: Inflation in South Africa - Rising Food Prices Hit Poor People the Hardest
Concerns about rising food prices are making the headlines across the world as pressures mount in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The war has driven up prices of… Read more »
June 12, 2022
Nigeria: Money Is Breaking Democracy in Nigeria
Nigeria has had 23 years of unbroken civilian rule since 1999, and commemorates this return to democratic governance on 12 June. The Conversation Africa asked political scientist… Read more »
June 10, 2022
Africa: How Ivorian Cyber-Scammers Help Us to Understand the Magic of the Internet
Societies that identify as "modern" tend to categorise people who believe in an invisible world of magic and spirits as irrational and superstitious, thereby excluding them from… Read more »
June 08, 2022
Africa: The Fourth Industrial Revolution - a Seductive Idea Requiring Critical Engagement
Narrative frames are fundamental to unifying ideologies. They frame what is possible and impossible, which ideas can be accepted and which must be rejected. In her book, Digital… Read more »
Nigeria: How Nanotechnology Can Revive Nigeria's Textile Industry
Nigeria's cotton production has fallen steeply in recent years. It once supported the largest textile industry in Africa. The fall is due to weak demand for cotton and to poor… Read more »
June 05, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria Has Just Hiked Interest Rates - Why It's the Wrong Recipe for Curbing Inflation
The Central Bank of Nigeria recently announced an increase in the interest rate, from 11.5% to 13%, a 1.5 percentage point hike that took effect immediately. Read more »
June 03, 2022
Ghana: A Root Cause of Flooding in Accra - Developers Clogging Up the City's Wetlands #AfricaClimateCrisis
Ghana has six designated Ramsar sites. These are wetlands designated under the criteria of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty that seeks to protect them. In… Read more »
June 02, 2022
South Africa: South Africa's Economy Has Taken Some Heavy Body Blows - Can It Recover?
Economists are growing increasingly concerned about South Africa's economy. This is because the country's three major macroeconomic problems - lacklustre economic growth, growing… Read more »
June 01, 2022
Southern Africa: Enforcing Competition Would Ease Food Price Hikes in East and Southern Africa
Small and medium-scale farmers and agri-businesses in east and southern Africa are getting a raw deal. To succeed they need fair and integrated regional markets. Research by the… Read more »
May 31, 2022
South Africa: ANC Policy Papers Touch On Key Issues Facing Agriculture and Land Reform in South Africa
The latest policy discussion document published by the African National Congress (ANC) presents a positive change from the ambiguous agriculture policy the South African governing… Read more »
Ghana: Power Demand in Ghana Has Dipped After Every Crisis - the Drivers and Consequences
Recurring electricity supply crises in Ghana over an extended period have driven consumers to turn alternative sources of energy. In turn, this resulted in a sharp decline in… Read more »
May 30, 2022
South Africa: What It Will Take for Ailing Power Utility to Keep Going
The chief operating officer of South Africa's electricity utility, Eskom, warned in May that the government should urgently start building new generating capacity. He was referring… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana's Debt - the Pros and Cons of Borrowing Abroad Versus At Home
A government which decides to borrow - either because it has programmed a budget deficit or needs to refinance maturing debts - faces two, non-mutually exclusive possibilities:… Read more »
Africa: Cannabis Policy Changes in Africa Are Welcome. but Small Producers Are the Losers
Cannabis is a drug crop with a long history in Africa. Alongside coca and opium poppy, it has been subjected to international control for nearly a century. The International Opium… Read more »
May 29, 2022
Congo-Kinshasa: What Coltan Mining in the DRC Costs People and the Environment
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is rich in natural resources - its untapped deposits of minerals are estimated to be worth US$24 trillion. Gold, diamonds, cobalt and zinc… Read more »
May 25, 2022
Africa: Quantum Physics Offers Insights About Leadership in the 21st Century
It may seem strange to look to the discipline of quantum physics for lessons that will help to create future-fit leaders. But science has a lot to offer us. Read more »
May 24, 2022
Africa: Tech Firms Are Making Computer Chips With Human Cells - Is It Ethical?
The year is 2030 and we are at the world's largest tech conference, CES in Las Vegas. A crowd is gathered to watch a big tech company unveil its new smartphone. The CEO comes to… Read more »
May 23, 2022
Africa: How Many Bots Are On Twitter? The Question Is Difficult to Answer and Misses the Point
Twitter reports that fewer than 5% of accounts are fakes or spammers, commonly referred to as "bots." Since his offer to buy Twitter was accepted, Elon Musk has repeatedly… Read more »
May 24, 2022
Nigeria: Oil Hazards Aren't the Main Worry of Nigeria's Coastal Residents - Toilets Are
Nigeria's coastal areas are known to present environmental hazards and risks. Oil exploration and exploitation is one source of these hazards. Oil spillage, gas flaring, air and… Read more »