in the Face of the pandemic Covid-19, Africa could experience an economic crisis of unprecedented magnitude. While the continent has not yet experienced the peak of the epidemic, all indicators in the economy are currently in the red, a result of preventive measures for containment and closure of national borders on the quasi-totality of the continent.
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The impact beyond the health crisis
Why what’s happening on the other side of the Mediterranean should we be worried ? Because if the momentum of growth witnessed in Africa since several decades, gets bogged down, it is Europe that will suffer the consequences in a second time. We run the risk that all that has been undertaken through the development assistance, the establishment of strategic partnerships on an economic level as at the level of healthcare and education is reduced to nil. For example, more than 8 million children were enrolled in primary school and more than 160 000 in the secondary education in Africa as a result of the interventions funded by the EU in 2013-2014. This ambitious partnership is to continue on bases still more solid. No need also to recall the impact of a new wave of migration in our societies : while an economic crisis we face, it would be coupled with a real political crisis in which the populist parties would win the contest no doubt in future elections.
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A strategy is needed around ICT
Africa is one of our priorities as european policy-makers. That those who doubt reminisce about the first trip of the president of the european Commission, and Ursula von der Leyen, who, only a week after his inauguration, made his first official trip to Addis-Adeba, at the headquarters of the african Union. It is also returned two months later, accompanied by 20 of the 27 european commissioners, a sign that Africa and the EU have a genuine “common destiny” and an ambitious partnership to reinstall.
We need then to think, and quickly, at how to help our african partner in the race against the clock that looms in the face of the economic disaster announced following the global pandemic of Covid-19. Are we asking the right questions : what works in Africa, what are the factors of development, of growth ? One is certainly the technologies of information and communication technology (ICT), while Africa had more than 400 million Internet users in 2018, a figure that is up 20 % compared to 2017. The mobile phone is the means of privileged access to the Internet (3 times more used than the computer) and the united Nations estimates that the mobile phone operators are today a major source of employment. Before the crisis, it was predicted that the mobile telephone industry was expected to generate 7.9% of the GDP and create 3,45 million jobs in sub-saharan Africa by 2022.
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as co-chair and vice-chair of the intergroup RUMRA & Smart Villages, which will soon be created in the european Parliament, we know how much access to a good Internet connection is an important growth factor. The intergroup aims to ” promote the integrated development of european territories in all their diversity “. And what is true in Europe is even more in Africa ! ICT facilitates access to education, they contribute to the increase of the productivity of enterprises, they are a real value-added in the agricultural sector, for example by enabling family farmers to gain access to targeted information on techniques for improving their yields.
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Create links with all stakeholders
Faced with this situation, there is an urgent need to support the groups operating in the ICT sector, which today provide access to the Internet and the deployment of optical fibre on the african continent, such as Vodafone, Orange, or Huawei Northern Africa. Huawei, for example, provides 200 000 kilometres of coverage of optic fiber network on the african continent and owns 50 % of the networks in 3G and 4G. Orange invests € 1 billion every year in the development of networks in Africa and Vodafone now has more than 170 million mobile customers in eight african countries, with 4G networks launched in many african markets. These groups are the engines of growth, and can be one of the solutions to the economic crisis. In view of this, we must be careful not to isolate one of these companies to considerations the geo-strategic, which should not have their place in our economic considerations. As advocates of free trade, our decisions must be based solely on merit and the ability of a company to provide ICT solutions requested.
Without complacency, without being naïve, we need to think about what we will impact positively in the short, medium and long term. I fear that our reluctance to commit ourselves towards more connectivity will impact our economies, and those of our neighbours, the first of which is Africa. So let us be responsible, let’s be political, and assume our choices. ICT is one of the ways out of the crisis facing the Covid-19, does not deprive anyone, and especially not to Africa !
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* Engin Eroglu, German mep in the liberal group Renew Europe.
** swiss Franc Bogovic, mep from Slovenia in the group centre-right european people’s Party.
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How the tech “made in Africa” fighting the new coronavirus Africa : when Jack Ma trace sa route Huawei : “Africa deserves to have the most advanced technologies” Alioune Ndiaye : “There must be a regulatory framework that is stable and balanced “”We call on Africans to participate in the collective effort of “” Europe and Africa must confront together the challenge of the Covid-19 “
