Data has been rightly acknowledged as the future oil of the global economy. As a result of the large amounts of data being produced globally by individuals, households, organizations and nations, the potential for mining insights from aggregated big data has emerged, besides other uses of data. The potential multifaceted use of data for private and public good is fueled by super-fast telecommunication networks which power communications and data capture, transfer, storage and processing. However, while developed economies are pressing ahead to harness the potential of data to transform their societies, Africa has lagged behind in the harnessing of data for public good. In many African countries, basic access to data is still a major challenge, and the policy landscape which enables data for public good is largely lacking. This paper gives an overview of the situation in Africa, where the infrastructure and data policy deficit is hampering the continent’s efforts towards digital development.