The tech-novation pathway from pandemic to prosperity: a post Covid-19 roadmap for African economy

development While the post-colonial African economy remains the poorest performing economy globally, the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic has further gravely aggravated its precarious position in the world. This study reflects on the multiple impacts of Covid-19 on African economy and suggests a pathway for its revitalization in the post Covid-19 environment. Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to a temporary halt, with its attendant bruises mostly notable on the economies of almost all African countries. This paper empirically analyse the incapacitation of African states in providing some strategic responses to the economic wreckages caused by the pandemic. Using technological-determinism as a theoretical framework, this study suggests the technologicalinnovation pathway as a bridge between the pandemic-induced economic circumstances and prosperity for Africa. Sequentially, the five junctions on the pathway splits as pulling, recovery, innovations, growth, and sustainability (PRIGS), but, however, the kernel of the discussion revolves around the commodification of innovation (technology) for Africa’s economic growth and development. This study concludes, the five junctions on the PRIGS’ highway absorbs the current developmental challenges of African states and hence, recommends an alternative roadmap for Africa, in its long-term quest and vision for development A. A. Aduloju, T. A. Adedoyin

The tech-novation pathway from pandemic to prosperity: a post Covid-19 roadmap for African economy  pulling; recovery; innovation; technology; development While the post-colonial African economy remains the poorest performing economy globally, the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic has further gravely aggravated its precarious position in the world. This study reflects on the multiple impacts of Covid-19 on African economy and suggests a pathway for its revitalization in the post Covid-19 environment. Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to a temporary halt, with its attendant bruises mostly notable on the economies of almost all African countries. This paper empirically analyse the incapacitation of African states in providing some strategic responses to the economic wreckages caused by the pandemic. Using technological-determinism as a theoretical framework, this study suggests the technologicalinnovation pathway as a bridge between the pandemic-induced economic circumstances and prosperity for Africa. Sequentially, the five junctions on the pathway splits as pulling, recovery, innovations, growth, and sustainability (PRIGS), but, however, the kernel of the discussion revolves around the commodification of innovation (technology) for Africa's economic growth and development. This study concludes, the five junctions on the PRIGS' highway absorbs the current developmental challenges of African states and hence, recommends an alternative roadmap for Africa, in its long-term quest and vision for development

Introduction
In January, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus (Covid-19) a global health emergency. With its origin, reportedly from Wuhan, China, in 2019, the virus has blossomed to over 195 countries, including, virtually all African countries. Currently, over 7 million cases have been recorded globally while thousands of people have, sadly, died. On the 11th of March, 2020, the WHO officially declared Covid-19 a pandemic; signifying in essence, a globally challenging times (Chappell, 2020).
Consequent of this declaration, many countries adopted stricter measures to contain the spread of the virus. For instance, a broadband of border closure policy was installed by many countries while several international businesses were shut down. As safety valve, billions of children worldwide were ordered home while governments across the world also instructed their varying populations to self-quarantine (The Economist, 2020). Thus far, the huge loss of lives and emotional trauma remained a major fallout, and like muzzle flashes, the Covid-19 pandemic has also disrupted global chains of demand and supply, with resultant impacts such as fall in the revenue of nations, job losses, insolvencies, indebtedness, liquidation of many private firms and many more.
However, what the Covid-19 pandemic portends for a fragile economy like that of Africa is enormous; not alone for the oil-dependent economies who are battling with dwindling oil prices, but also, for the non-oil-dependent nations who are equally battling with restricted fiscal space. For instance, oil prices have drastically fallen by over 54% and at some points, was sold at below 30 dollars, while, the prices of non-oil commodities like aluminum, copper, natural gas, metals, lead and cocoa have plummeted by 0.49%, 0.47%, 30%, 4%, 1.64% and 21% respectively, among other considerations (Madden & Coulibaly, 2020). Meanwhile, the total population living in Africa's urban settlements approximately stood at 600 million (43.5 % of Africa's population) while the remaining over 56 % are living in the slums ( UN Habitat, 2016). Although, it was predicted that between 400,000 and 4 million could become fatalities of Covid-19 in Africa, but, however, the provision of radical combative responses from African countries are expected to elaborately prevent the doom and reduce the predicted fatalities [Sawlani, 2020].
Without dwelling much on the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 on African economies, this paper draws its strength from an intensive scientific analysis, and hence, tenders a post Covid-19 economic reclamation plan for Africa. For the sake of simplicity, this study abstractly envelopes the index points (pulling, recovery, innovations, growth, and sustainability) of the discussion as the PRIGS bridge, and thus recommends that bridge as the pathway between the 'termination of the pandemic' and the 'germination of prosperity' for African economies.

Reflections: the Covid-19 pandemic and the responses of African governments
Selecting from its plural challenges, Africa is characterized with poorly serviced dwelling slums and overcrowded population. In all, about 72 % of Africa's labour force are not employed in formal sectors, which makes working from home a difficult task. Even, before Covid-19, 76.7% of employments in Sub-Saharan Africa were vulnerable and not secured [ILO, 2015]. Similarly, Africa hosts the leading numbers of people with prevailing underlying health conditions. About 40% of Africa's children, aged below five years are malnourished.
Apart from the largely dependent importation of pharmaceutical and medicinal products, the ratio of Africa's health professionals and facilities to its population is highly disproportionate, constituting the highest among other continents [AUC, 2020]. Talking of social welfare, the inherent corruption, unavailability of accurate data and identity systems makes direct transfer benefits to the vulnerable, a hard job for administrators of social palliatives. Apart from the unsustainability of the lockdown costs, the cheapest preventive technique like constant handwashing remains an expensive commodity in Africa, where only 34% of the total households can access clean water for basic use [Howard, 2020].
Premised on the constant trans-border engagements of people within the African continent, the entry of Covid-19 into one Africa country, only meant that, transiently, the spread would enjoy an unhindered flow into other countries in the continent. Although, many have blamed the WHO's failure to hurriedly declare the virus as a global pandemic as the springboard for its rapid spread, while some also blamed 'the leadership' who failed to shut their borders on time.
But, the entry of Covid-19 into Lesotho, Burundi and some other countries, long after WHO's eventual declaration and several border closures only shows the global destiny Covid-19 was bound to have. For example, the index-case in Nigeria was reportedly a returnee from one of the hot spots of the infectious disease [Shaban, 2020]. But that did not prevent the Nigerien who exploited the West African border porosity into Nigeria, only to be subsequently tested and declared positive after mingling with multiple contacts [Vanguard, 2020]. This instance on easy penetration of West African borders speaks for the situation in other African sub-regions and the unavoidable blowout of Covid-19.
However, the pro-active measures, including accelerated testing rates in many African states successfully tamed the early identified cases and have helped to prevent a rapid community spread. As the Covid-19 positive cases rise exponentially across the globe, Africa's figure stood firm in the frames of 'tens of thousands' cases. Commendably, several strategies have been dispatched in many countries, not only to curb the spread of Covid-19 alone, but, also, to reassure the people that, their welfare would not be compromised as we collectively fight the coronavirus outburst, [OECD, 2020]. In Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and many others, for example, weeks of lockdown were repeatedly announced, while food items and other relief packages were distributed as palliatives to people, mapped out as vulnerable and poor.
Citing one, the Togolese government weekly distributed tranches of funds to over 300,000 households and beneficiaries, affected by the lockdown [Ooko-Ombaka, et al, 2020].
Following the hatchet lockdown policy review in many African states, the continent's economy appears to be warming-up for a resurrection. But, despite the psycho-social feelings of optimism and pessimism about the lockdown relaxations, it is worth-noting that, the preceding days have witnessed hardship, sacrificed freedoms, halted businesses, closed enterprises, unwavering communal spirit and inexplicable perseverance while the tough times persist.
As countries anticipate the peaking and dwindling of Covid-19 cases, this study identifies some macro-economic responses outside Africa, ignited by the Covid-19 pandemic vis-à-vis Africa's response capacity. The ultimate aim is to synchronize the series of responses with the economic circumstances of Africa, and thus, develop a post Covid-19 practical agenda that will convey the continent from a pandemic era into a prosperous area.
For instance, the G-20 has pumped out over 5 trillion dollars as targeted economic measures and fiscal policy globally. China equally lowered their reserves, freed over 70.6 billion dollars to inject their economy and announced over 150 billion dollars as aid globally. The European Union (EU) Bank publicized over 740 billion euros as support for the continent's economy. Unveiling the PRIGS pathway from pandemic to prosperity for Africa The previous section has brought to fore, the virtual designs of Africa's drawing board for reawakening of its economy in a post Covid-19 arena. Indeed, the pandemic has downed the economy of African states, having witnessed inactivity for over a month. As more sauntering stories of exiting workers continue to drift across Africa, resultant of Covid-19, the PRIGS mnemonic is a conceptual envelope that suggests a post Covid-19 economic pathway for African countries. Explicitly, 'PRIGS' interprets as follows; Pulling, Recovery, Innovation, Growth, and Sustainability. This recommendation is strongly founded and themed on science, innovation and technology. Incidentally, the middle alphabet in PRIGS stands for innovation, which is equally the nucleus or core of this paper. Now, before unveiling the PRIGS pathway, it is crucial to briefly appraise how the Covid-19 has affected specific country sectors in the household context. Without this brief appraisal, discussing PRIGS might not make too much sense. Just to select few sectors, the pandemic has affected each country politically, socially, economically, culturally, educationally and health-wise. Economically, the multiple weeks of inactivity has ignited job losses, most especially, in private firms where their revenue is gone [Allen, 2020]. Many artisans and craftsmen have also been idle, and faced with the duo-viruses of hunger and corona. Thus, indebtedness has been a major source of livelihood for households.
Culturally, the spirit of communalism was revived. Individual communities were coming together to contribute and care for the vulnerable people, acknowledging that, the governments of each country cannot do some things alone [Aneasoronye, 2020]. Such community spirit, long-lost since the days of the hunter-gatherer-bands, complemented the social palliatives provided by the government, corporate donations and the well-to-do individuals in each country.
Educationally, schools remain shut-down and pupils or students resorted to learning from their homes. Although, virtual classrooms were created online, which many explored, yet, intimacy-which aids absorption of knowledge-is lacking in online learning and consequently cannot be called a substitute for classroom settings [Li & Lalani, 2020]. However, there is value in preserving the distinction of physical class teachings, as the virtual classes only proved that education should be a 24-hour activity that does not start with sunrise and ends when sun sets.
Health-wise, the warped fragile health systems within the continent benefitted from a global injection of funds, health equipment, facilities, that empowered the setting-up of testing and treatment centres across the continent [Smith, 2020]. This sector, has undoubtedly sucked huge sums from each country's purse, either for remedial research, treatments and as payments or motivators for the health workforce. Yet, it exposed some insufficiencies and shortages within the African health sector.
Using the illustration of Africa as a baby, learning to stand and walk, the pandemic, by implication, pushed baby Africa back to the crawling level, ordering for a restart. As babies learn 'how to crawl' from the home settings, PRIGS is a home-grown template for Africa's rise, stand, and walk to prosperity. Recall, PRIGS implies Pulling, Recovery, Innovation, Growth, and Sustainability.
So, the first phase on this post Covid-19 agenda is pulling, indicating that, African governments need to pull a lot of resources, into the state. This involves a simultaneous pulling of financial and human resources. Primarily, each country needs to pull huge financial resources from the international and national level to uplift the country's human resources and consequently, its economy [Gandhi, Schaeffer & Madden, 2020]. Within Africa, the pulling agenda is radically ongoing and the financial missiles have been primed to light-up the economy. Ekeruche, 2020]. The pandemic has not only caused a physical and social disconnection from their workplaces, but, also, a psychological disconnection that is worsened by stories of financial liquidation; given that, the preceding weeks have recorded a decline in individual and household's consumption, doubtful prospects for income and an erosion of savings, offshoring from the full and partial lockdowns across the country, and inductively, all African states. Therefore, pulling of financial and human resources for baby Africa is quintessential to make her crawl-up again.
In essence, the second phase on this post Covid-19 agenda is recovery. A staggering baby kicked down by Covid-19, has been pulled back to his feet. But, then, the baby will need to recover the lost confidence to keep standing and walking again. Likewise, recovery of what was lost during the pandemic becomes our next focus. Before the pandemic, the internally generated funds in many states across Africa are meagre and most times, reliant on external borrowings for executing the bulk of their budgeted agenda. But, taking a clue from the oil price impact on the oil-dependent economies, this study recommends an alternative venture.
With or without Covid-19, the oil influence and attraction has been dwindling and fading respectively. For example, India and several countries are manufacturing electric cars that does not run on fuel [IANS, 2020]. Shenzhen, a Chinese province, was the first city in the world to replace all its buses with electric buses and it is in the process to replace its taxis as well. Besides, about 1.1 million electric cars were sold in China in 2018, representing 50% of the global automobile sales . With a set-agenda to balloon the electric cars to other countries in few years' time, many countries have also been exploring alternative sources of energy, should oil die. So, it is imperative for states to plan living without the oil wealth.
From this standpoint, Africa's recovery programs must also explore its alternatives for revenues other than the oil-based wealth, and likewise, the non-oil dependent nations need to grow beyond the crude commodity-induced income. Furthermore, one-fifth of Tunisia's population are engaged in agriculture, but, the agricultural yields contributing one-twelfth of Tunisia's GDP shows a gap of either inefficiency in Tunisia's agricultural sector or the availability better alternatives to agriculture [Britannica, 2020].
Using same index of twelve, agriculture was expected to contribute eight-twelfth (two-third) of Nigeria's GDP, bar the ascendancy of oil. But, on the average of climatic variations, the tourism industry seems adaptable to any climatic situation and can be further rebirthed as quick revenue models for African states. The positive remark closing this recovery phase is that, baby Africa will not only be able to now stand, but also, will be ready to walk.
The third phase, and perhaps, the most important, on this agenda is innovation. Innovation  Amazon is set to launch AI that will sort, package and ship its products; an innovation that will replace human efforts and instructors. Financial advisors, robot Cooks, waitresses and fitness coaches are expected to hit the market later this year [3]. As the core argument herewith, this paper situates its analyses within the theory of technological-determinism. The theory premised promotion of technology and innovations as the drive for economic and social development. Furthermore, technological-innovation is credited as the governing force for effecting socio-economic progress [Smith, 1994]. Although, Adler agrees technological-innovation attracts positive changes. Yet, he otherwise argued that, technology handles social pressures discriminatingly and ignores some social challenges [2]. Likewise, Postman expresses a correlation between the wonders of technological-innovation and its negative consequences [Postman, 1998].
Nevertheless, the midpoint is that, the more technological advanced a country is, the greater their efficiency in pursuing economic development, and also, their ability to crush challenges which will always arise, with or without technological advancement.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Spencer Johnson's ''Who Moved My Cheese'' explicitly captures the dilemma caused by Covid-19 and the implications for Africa. The big lesson is the need for change and that, anyone who refuses to change when circumstances call for it becomes extinct. The bigger lesson is that movement towards new directions helps us discover new cheese. The biggest lesson is that, the earlier we let go of the old cheese, the quicker we discover new and better ones [3].
No doubts, Africa's cheese (both oil and non-oil commodities) appears to be fading.
Agriculture readily comes to mind as the alternative. But, then, global trends, as discussed, has proven that, having a productive agricultural sector in this Century depends on the application of modern day technologies and innovations. In addition, discussing agriculture would be insensitive to the losses Covid-19 brought for an average African. Agriculture is also dependent on several factors including weather, manpower, markets and other factors. But then, this paper has vividly discussed the PRIGS as a realistic pathway that is expected to switch Africa from its pandemic predicaments into prosperity; Pulling, Recovery, Innovation, Growth and its Sustainability (PRIGS) is the model.
For Africa, our new cheese is innovation, capturing (science, technology and Artificial Intelligence). Since innovations are developed for application to solve problems. It is believed that an investment in technological innovations yields positively on all other sectors (agricultural, businesses, educational, health and so on). The recommendation goes thus: The African governments should diffuse the stimulus packages closer to people in their countries. If the bureaucratic policies of any country's mother bank appears delaying, mostly common in decentralized countries, the sub-levels of government may seek grants from international partners or supports from Africa Diaspora Investment Fund (ADIF) and others that attracts 3% interest, fairly cheaper than the any country bank's package [3]. Thirdly, each country in Africa needs to determinedly restart thousands of start-ups in innovations, technology and digital businesses that will scale-up and each startup will target the creation of over 20,000 jobs annually in the coming years. Also, Agriculture and tourism are two key sectors that would serve as a strong baseline for revenue attraction, while the government's efforts on innovations progress towards commercialization stages.
In addition, African countries need to go into non-exploitative partnerships with all the relevant tech and innovation agencies deemed integral for technological-innovation advancement, while not relenting on efforts on agricultural sector and awakening its tourism sector. Tanzania's self-sufficiency efforts on maize and rice production is commendable and recommendable for other African countries.
Nevertheless, each country should progress on varying national plans towards liberalizing trade, productive transformation. Like a medium-to-long term plan, regional integration and alternatives developed through technology will eventually catalyst the AfCFTA agenda. This Lastly, this study recommends the African Union and its spinoff agencies should constitute a team of experts that is vastly informed on the development, evaluation and implementation of a "Technology and Innovation Promotion Agenda" (TIPA). The research is suggestive of specialists who have worked on tech, innovations and robotics, alongside international relations technocrats who can secure the necessary intellectual-property rights and patents for promoting the African label. Finally, the Covid-19 is a transit phase, and its enduring legacies must not be wasted, but painted for a positive rebranding of Africa's future.