Africa

1. Developing doctorates
2. Sending money home
3. Traveling teachers
4. Game theory
5. Ghana-US visa backlog

Also, how Afrofuturism could offer solutions to the climate change crisis.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa Weekend. Regular readers will know that we often write about “Global Africans,” by which we mean people in the diaspora and their connections with the continent. Their stories matter because they often touch on several issues — as they do in this edition’s story about the Kenyan government’s policy to encourage teachers to work abroad.

The story, reported by Muchira Gachenge in Nairobi, looks at how the policy seeks to cut unemployment while increasing remittances to Kenya (we also look at the cost of sending money home in this edition). The point is that the policy is about much more than migration. It’s part of President William Ruto’s response to the protests and, in the long term, raises questions about the ability of countries to thrive if their brightest young adults leave the country — particularly if they’re the ones who would have been teaching the nation’s youngest citizens.

🟡 This week, Alexander Onukwue in Lagos reported on the latest twist in the row involving Aliko Dangote’s refinery and Nigerian authorities. He also looked at Nigeria’s move to freeze digital wallets holding crypto worth around $38 million. And Jenna Moon marked the declaration by Africa’s top health body that mpox is a public health emergency.

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How to produce more academics

The number of new African PhD holders that the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) hopes to produce through a new initiative in collaboration with its members over 10 years. The announcement followed the approval of 16 new collaborative doctorate programs by ARUA’s executive committee that are set to launch in January 2026. The programs are expected to be funded by the Mastercard Foundation. ARUA said the new PhD programs are a response to the pressing need to bolster research capacity in Africa.

Remittance costs remain high

Remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa fell by 0.3% in 2023 to $54 billion, according to World Bank data — an amount 1.5 times that of foreign investment to the region. Nigeria remained the top destination, though its receipts fell by 2.9% within the period. But the cost of sending remittances to the region remains the highest in the world, at an average of nearly 8% for every $200 sent, compared to the global average of 6.4%. The most expensive routes are transfers from Tanzania to its close East Africa neighbors Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda, which cost no less than 30% per $200 transaction. Two of the cheapest corridors are remittances to Mali from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, the World Bank’s report said.

Kenya is exporting its teachers

NAIROBI — Kenya has a plan to increase a key new export: teachers.

It wants to send teachers to wealthier countries such as the United States and Gulf nations, as part of an aggressive strategy to cut unemployment and boost remittances.

Late last month, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi unveiled the first cohort of nearly 70 teachers destined for schools in the US. The Department for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs said the teachers got jobs through a partnership between the labor ministry and two private companies.

But critics warn the policy risks exacerbating the country’s already dire shortage of teachers.

President William Ruto, who has been grappling with youth-led anti-government protests and calls for his resignation, last month said the government would support anyone who found work abroad.

Ruto said the labor ministry knew of 400,000 foreign jobs available and that some 1,000 people were leaving the country each week to work abroad, although he did not provide evidence to support his claims.

The ministry of labor did not immediately respond to a request for information on the number of people leaving the country for work, or their destinations.

The National Employment Authority, which is responsible for increasing youth employment, estimates that more than 160,000 Kenyans had applied for jobs abroad as of Aug. 16. Its website lists mostly domestic work in Gulf states, where nearly 420,000 Kenyans already work, according to the prime cabinet secretary.

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Gaming giants look to Africa

Global gaming giants are increasingly looking to Africa for growth as the continent’s video games market rapidly expands.

The African gaming sector’s annual revenue is expected to cross $1 billion for the first time this year, up from $862.1 million in 2022. The Middle East and Africa games market is projected to grow by 8.9% this year, the highest rate among all regions, according to a new report by games market data provider Newzoo. By comparison, the North American market is expected to grow by just 0.6%.

The world’s youngest population, rapidly expanding internet connectivity, and increasing smartphone access are helping drive growth of the market. Gaming startups on the continent are attracting more funding, and firms including Disney, Electronic Arts, and Riot Games are partnering with African gaming studios.

“In the last 12 months we have seen a huge uptick in interest in the African (gaming) industry by the big international firms,” Jay Shapiro, founder of Pan African Gaming Group, a collective of African game studios, told Semafor Africa.

Shapiro also said that investment in African gaming startups had been increasing in recent years, attributing it to factors including slowed growth in North America and aging populations in Europe that he said had drawn more attention to Africa.

— Martin K.N Siele

Ghanaians put American dream on hold

Ghana visa applicants hoping to travel to the United States face a temporary new obstacle in the process. New applicants will not be accepted for a 10-day period, from Aug. 16 to 26, while authorities switch to a new visa service provider.

The US embassy said the switch was necessary to address a backlog which has created lengthy delays in the visa application process.

Addressing reporters at a media briefing about the switch, the US Consul General in Ghana, Elliot Fertik, said the backlog was created by a surge in visa applications in recent years. He said the number of people who paid for a visa application in 2023 was “triple what it was in 2019.”

Fertik said additional resources had been deployed to conduct interviews, for example with those who want to study in the US. “Unfortunately, the demand is outstripping even the increased resources we’ve had and we’re going to continue increasing our resources,” said Fertik. 

US embassy officials did not explain why applications had risen so sharply since 2019. But the period coincided with Ghana’s worst economic crisis in a generation, which combined skyrocketing inflation with a crisis in the country’s public finances that caused the country’s government to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion bailout package.

— Nana Oye Ankrah in Accra, Ghana

Weekend Reads

🇸🇳 Veteran Senegalese journalist Samba Dialimpa Badji looks at the presidency of Bassirou Faye six months after his election in World Politics Review. Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko’s early moves to lower food prices have been well received, he writes, but the duo still face major political obstacles in their plan to deliver the radical reforms they promised.

🇿🇦 For the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, Christina Pitt examines potential paths to the local production of insulin pens in South Africa as they become less accessible to diabetes patients. A partnership between Danish pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk and South Africa’s Aspen to produce insulin in vials for over 1 million people is forcing patients to switch from insulin pens to harder-to-use syringes and vials, she writes.

🌍 Government scholarships and a lenient student visa regime are among factors driving more African students towards Chinese universities, Jevans Nyabiage writes for the South China Morning Post. Students also see it as a chance to enhance employment opportunities back home due to significant Chinese activity on the continent.

🇪🇹 Monique Davek analyzes the Ethiopian government’s decision to relinquish its tight control of the value of its currency in a Bloomberg article. The decision, a break from 50 years of currency control, is expected to unlock funds from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and offers an opportunity for Ethiopia to restructure half of its $28.9 billion external debt.

🌍 Christopher J. Schell, writing in Literary Hub, examines the intersection between Afrofuturism and the climate change crisis, while highlighting opportunities to reimagine solutions to the crisis. Schell notes that lessons from struggles against violence and oppression can also be channeled towards reawakening humanity’s love for nature and desire to protect it.

Week Ahead

Aug. 19 — Africa’s biggest telecoms company, South Africa-based MTN, will report half-year results.

Aug. 19 — South African lender Absa Group is set to release half-year results, in which it expects to report low single digit revenue growth.

Aug. 20 — The second edition of the Namibia Oil and Gas Conference will be held in Windhoek, Namibia.

Aug. 23 — S&P Global Ratings agency is scheduled to issue a reassessment of Kenya’s ‘B’ credit rating, after deadly protests against tax hikes in June forced the government to withdraw its funding plan for this fiscal year.

For Your Consideration

Sept. 6 — Applications for the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship Class of 2025, the flagship program of the African Leadership Institute, are open to people between the ages of 30 and 40.

Sept. 15 — Aspiring filmmakers, scriptwriters, producers, and storytellers are invited to apply to be part of the 12-month MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy class of 2025.

Oct. 4 — Applications are now open for the 2024/2025 Africa Research Excellence Fund research and development fellowship program for early career researchers in Africa.

• Solar geoengineering might help cool a warming Earth, but research into risks is lacking.
• Global access to safe drinking water may be significantly overestimated.
• Why Kamala Harris should keep talking like a cop.

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Happy 64th independence day to the people of the Republic of Congo!! (Aug. 15) 🇨🇬

Happy 64th independence day to the people of Gabon!! (Aug. 17) 🇬🇦

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, Muchira Gachenge, and Jenna Moon