TECHDIGEST – Telephone subscribers will not be paying more for calls in Nigeria with the recent signing of the National Health Insurance Authority Bill 2021 by President Muhammadu Buhari into law.

Contrary to reports, the federal government expunged the section imposing a new telecommunications tax to finance the new National Health Insurance Authority Act (NHIA).

President Buhari signed the health bill into law May 19, 2022 amidst public apprehension that telephone subscribers will be asked to pay more for calls to fund the NHIA.

READ ALSO: FG Imposes Tax On Phone Calls To Finance Healthcare Fund

Section 26(1c) of the Act which mandated the collection of “telecommunications tax, not less than one kobo per second of GSM calls” was expunged before the president appended his signature.

Telecom sector already over-taxed
But government, worried over the possibility of over-burdening subscribers with additional financial weight in a sector already deemed to be over-taxed, pack-pedalled and remove the section on telecom tax.

Pressure from telecom operators and other stakeholders also informed government’s decision. The sector is already debating hiking tariffs over inflationary cost of producing a minute of voice calls or a byte of data.

NHIA is broader cover for Universal Health Coverage

The NHIA repeals the National Health Insurance Scheme Act 2004 and offers a broader cover for Nigeria to achieve Universal Health Coverage – a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by 2030.

The NHIA is designed to bring affordable healthcare, social health insurance to majority of Nigerians poor and deemed to be within the Vulnerable Group. More than 83 million poor Nigerians are to be captured under this scheme.

According to the federal government, “For the large number of vulnerable individuals who are not able to pay health insurance premiums, a Vulnerable Group Fund will be set up to include a component of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund due to the Authority, Health Insurance Levy, Special Intervention Fund, and any investment proceeds, donations and gifts to the Authority.”

The expunged telecommunications tax was supposed to be part of the funding channels for the Vulnerable Group Fund created under the NHIA.

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TECHDIGEST – A group of 17 regional UN entities have launched the first online data portal that brings together statistical data harvested across all countries on the African continent. The initiative makes measuring and evaluating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa easier.

Launched under the Africa Regional Collaborative Platform (RCP), the Africa UN Data for Development Platform is the first platform to serve as a one-stop-shop repository that captures high-quality data and evidence on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs from all the African countries. It is also the first of its kind to raise the profile of statistical progress toward the African Union vision – Agenda 2063.

“With barely nine years left to achieve the SDGs, making use of common and harmonized data is essential to accelerate progress. The launch of this new platform marks a milestone in actions towards the Agenda 2030 and the African Union 2063 Agenda. Reliable and collective data will allow all actors to make the best possible evidence-based policy action to accelerate the SDGs, strengthen collaboration, avoid unnecessary duplication and make sure that we can address gaps, really leaving no one behind,” said Assistant Secretary-General Ahunna Eziakonwa, Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the UN Development Programme, who also serves as Vice-Chair of the Africa RCP, at the virtual launch event.

The new data portal looks into the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and breaks them down into their 169 targets and 231 indicators, allowing everyone to track progress at the granular level. It is open to all users, including policymakers, planners, programme managers, development partners, private sector organizations, civil society groups, academic institutions, researchers, students, media outlets and many others.

According to the statisticians at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), among the 169 targets set out in the SDGs, only 30 percent of them are quantifiable. For the rest of the unquantifiable targets, the online platform goes ahead to propose target values by using a pragmatic and ambitious approach. It identifies the region’s outstanding countries and sets their average rate of change as the region’s target rate.

“Presenting comprehensive, practical data sets will especially help us, government civil servants, to monitor progress, make sound decisions, and evaluate outcomes and impacts. This data platform is a long-awaited online tool for us to carry out in-depth analyses and progress assessments at the target and indicator levels, and link them with our national development plans,” said Dr. Saulos Chilima, Vice President of Malawi.

The new data engine also gives users the ability to classify the statistics by various dimensions, such as the eight regional economic communities recognized by the African Union, least developed countries, landlocked developing nations, and oil-producing, mineral-rich states. Additionally, it repackages the data by key thematic issues. For example, users can categorize SDG indicators by agriculture, energy and health, allowing them to not only analyze the specific progress at the country level but also examine the convergence, similarities and differences among a variety of subregional blocs and topics.

“Africa is a continent with great potential and clear aspirations as articulated in the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063. The transformation requires quality, timely and disaggregated data to guide targeted investments and ensure that the desired returns in its human capital development, environmental sustainability, economic transformation and prosperity for all,” stated Oliver Chinganya, Director of the ECA Africa Centre for Statistics.

Building on the existing infrastructure developed by ECA, the Africa UN data portal consolidates statistics from platforms and technological tools available at UN entities. Without reinventing the wheel, the UN regional group, also known as Opportunity/Issue-based Coalition (OIBC) 1, came up with a new way of bringing data to users, strengthening the “whole-of-UN” approach to provide one common space where everyone can easily find critical evidence.

“The aim is to reduce the burden on countries in terms of responding to data needs and avoid repeated data requests from various organizations. This portal brings fragmented data from member states into one place, and this information can also be used by UN agencies and other partners,” said Dr. Bannet Ndyanabangi, Regional Director ad interim of UNFPA East and Southern Africa, and OIBC 1 co-convener.

The data portal is expected to be used in progress reports on the SDGs and other sustainable development documents. It can also be used to prepare speeches and presentations for senior leadership of governments and institutions as well as to stimulate policy conversations, for instance, for voluntary national reviews and other policy discussions around sustainable development agendas, particularly to facilitate deep analyses. The portal can also be cited by media outlets, research institutions, and other organizations to conduct further studies.

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TECH DIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) believes that the integration of Information Technology into healthcare sector would accelerate the attainment of all the sustainable Development Goals, (SDG) particularly SDG Goal 3.

This belief was expressed at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi State during a two-day workshop on Healthcare and ICT with the theme “Healthcare Transformation and Digital Technology” organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA) Bauchi State chapter.

Making the remarks on behalf of the Agency’s Director General, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the Head, Digital Ecosystem Unit, Digital Economy Department, Dr Amina Sambo-Magaji stated that the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society provides guideline on the integration of ICT into healthcare delivery.

She added that resolution of the United Nation General Assembly calls for “a close alignment between WSIS process and the 2020 agenda for sustainable development which requests all stakeholders to integrate ICT into their approaches to implementing the goals.

She said, “Under this alignment, the following action lines are linked to the SDG Goal 3 and they include; role of stakeholders in promotion of ICT4SDG through cooperation and partnership, focusing on access to information and knowledge, addressing digital literacy and lifelong learning and application of ICT in several areas amongst which are e-Health or Digital Health.”

While emphasizing the functions of NITDA in this regard, she maintained that the Agency will continue to develop and regulate IT for sustainable national development by supporting the implementation of the National Health ICT Strategic Framework.

Dr Sambo further stated that going by the Framework, ICT would enable and help in delivering Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria, adding that the National Strategy was developed using the WHO-ITU toolkit that is capable of creating enabling environment for digital health in Nigeria.

She averred that as the nation makes efforts to operate in the Digital Economy, NITDA designated a department called Digital Economy which would contribute to the attainment of Universal Healthcare Coverage in Nigeria.

She assured that NITDA would continue its commitment to harness the potential of technology to find effective and innovative ways to put this potential of leveraging on ICT to develop health care service for all Nigerians.

Earlier, the Acting Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Haruna Liman noted that the opportunity the Agency availed the doctors in the state would help to advance the partnership between the health sector and NITDA, being the vanguard of the digital economy in Nigeria. “Indeed, health practices generally is being increasingly digitalized for efficiency and effective treatment of patients,” he affirmed.

He stated that the digitalization and computer applications in the health sector is impacting positively on the three core mandates that affect teaching hospitals, these he said include, training, research and health care delivery to the extent that one who is not computer literate in this time would find it difficult to practice as health care specialist regardless of his area of specialization.

While acknowledging that the digital applications have help in many areas of the health sector, Dr Liman informed that only digital revolution can facilitate the kind of development being witnessed today in health care delivery. “Definitely, the benefits that we stand to gain from the application of digitalization of health sector cannot be enumerated.

He commended NITDA for finding it worthy to organise the workshop and also interact with the hospital with a view of “accessing the gap that we have and make appropriate recommendations on how we can improve on our digitalization processes.”

The CMD expressed optimism that with NITDA partnering with the hospital, the effort to digitize the hospital record through Electronic Health Record system would soon become fruitful. “Our hospital has made efforts to digitize the medical health record. We have interacted with some resource persons but it is still evolving, we have not yet finalized it but I believe with the facilities we have, NITDA can guide us to achieve this.

He equally appealed to the Agency to ensure that the engagement does not end with the workshop. He said, “I want you to forge continued partnership with us because we are still evolving like a toddler who needs guidance from his parents.”

The Vice Chairman of NMA, Dr Abdulrasheed Yakubu Baba in welcome remarks commended NITDA for speedy response given to the proposal of the Association to be trained by NITDA on digital transformation in health care delivery.

He said the NMA Executive realised that capacity building in ICT in relation healthcare delivery has become imperative and this necessitated the executive to reach out to NITDA to facilitate the training.

He appealed to the members of the Association to avail themselves the opportunities provided by the Agency to advance their productivity.

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TECH DIGEST – The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) has taken non-profit leaders and civil society actors across the country on a resourceful exploration of digital rights, technologies, trends and techniques to engender a digitally robust future for the sector.

A statement by the NNNGO said a workshop was organised recently at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital with support from the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) to discuss, share experience on the theme: ‘Understanding How Cyber/Digital Laws and Policies, AI, ML Big Data and Other Digital Technologies Impact Nonprofit Operations in Nigeria.’

The event was said to be imperative as the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent times has necessitated the need for government, business, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be proactive, “responsive and inclusive in using the internet and digital technologies to do their work as we have never seen in time past.”

The statement noted that the hybrid workshop which was attended by over 70 civil society organisations from across the country.

It also noted that the event featured presentations all delivered by seasoned Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts and learned nonprofit experts drawn from across Nigeria and other African countries.

In his remarks, the keynote speaker, Executive Director, Freedom of Expression Hub, Uganda Catherine Anitte, highlighted the current trends and realities around the use of technologies across the world.

She disclosed the importance of localising and mainstreaming technology in Africa in ways that bring these issues around digital civil society to the fore within the third sector.

She said: “As Artificial Intelligence (AI), and ML gain traction in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, the enjoyment of digital rights, has been hindered by an arbitrary regime of policy, legislation and an overzealous regulatory framework. Censorship, surveillance, blockage of content, unnecessary persecution and prosecution are threatening the enjoyment of rights online and adversely affecting civil society organisations advocating for these rights.”

She expressed the need for CSOs to have a clear understanding of the policy, legislative and regulatory framework of digital rights, including the opportunities and challenges that AI and machine learning may pose to the broader enjoyment of human rights.

On his parts, the Executive Director, NNNGO, Oluseyi Oyebisi, said: “AI, ML and big data will cause the most significant shift in the way nonprofits do their work as we have never seen in times past.

“If civil society organisations are to play a critical role in decades to come, they must adopt a more radical approach to how they understand and interpret the pros and cons of AI, ML and big data to civic space and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This event has come at a time when we are seeing the need for technology now, more than ever, especially with the need to stay distant but connected during this global pandemic and it is vital that civil society adapts to technological advancements so as to remain relevant in resolving the many challenges we face.”

The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) has taken non-profit leaders and civil society actors across the country on a resourceful exploration of digital rights, technologies, trends and techniques to engender a digitally robust future for the sector.

A statement by the NNNGO said a workshop was organised recently at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital with support from the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) to discuss, share experience on the theme: ‘Understanding How Cyber/Digital Laws and Policies, AI, ML Big Data and Other Digital Technologies Impact Nonprofit Operations in Nigeria.’

The event was said to be imperative as the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent times has necessitated the need for government, business, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be proactive, “responsive and inclusive in using the internet and digital technologies to do their work as we have never seen in time past.”

The statement noted that the hybrid workshop which was attended by over 70 civil society organisations from across the country.

It also noted that the event featured presentations all delivered by seasoned Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts and learned nonprofit experts drawn from across Nigeria and other African countries.

In his remarks, the keynote speaker, Executive Director, Freedom of Expression Hub, Uganda Catherine Anitte, highlighted the current trends and realities around the use of technologies across the world.

She disclosed the importance of localising and mainstreaming technology in Africa in ways that bring these issues around digital civil society to the fore within the third sector.

She said: “As Artificial Intelligence (AI), and ML gain traction in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, the enjoyment of digital rights, has been hindered by an arbitrary regime of policy, legislation and an overzealous regulatory framework. Censorship, surveillance, blockage of content, unnecessary persecution and prosecution are threatening the enjoyment of rights online and adversely affecting civil society organisations advocating for these rights.”

She expressed the need for CSOs to have a clear understanding of the policy, legislative and regulatory framework of digital rights, including the opportunities and challenges that AI and machine learning may pose to the broader enjoyment of human rights.

On his parts, the Executive Director, NNNGO, Oluseyi Oyebisi, said: “AI, ML and big data will cause the most significant shift in the way nonprofits do their work as we have never seen in times past.

“If civil society organisations are to play a critical role in decades to come, they must adopt a more radical approach to how they understand and interpret the pros and cons of AI, ML and big data to civic space and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This event has come at a time when we are seeing the need for technology now, more than ever, especially with the need to stay distant but connected during this global pandemic and it is vital that civil society adapts to technological advancements so as to remain relevant in resolving the many challenges we face.”

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