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CNN •

The pandemic reimagined sub-Saharan education, but access to digital is urgently needed

When Fiona Mavhinga was growing up in rural Zimbabwe, she woke at 4 a.m. and walked five kilometers (three miles) to school. She attended a full day of lessons and returned home in the evenings to tend the family vegetable plot.

To make ends meet, she worked weekends, selling vegetables at the local market. On many occasions, Mavhinga was sent home from school for not paying her fees.

Despite these challenges, she finished her education and used a bursary from a charitable organization to stud
CNN •

Togo names first female Prime Minister

Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe has appointed the country’s first female prime minister.

Victoire Tomegah Dogbe, 60, became the first female prime minister of the tiny West African nation of about eight million people.

Dogbe, whose appointment was confirmed by President Faure Gnassingbe on Monday, replaces Komi Selom Klassou, who resigned as prime minister on Friday, a position he held since 2015.

Dogbe is well known and respected in Togo, having served in several positions under Gnassingbe
CNN •

South African government docks minister's salary for allowing party members join her trip to Zimbabwe

The South African government has docked the defense minister’s salary for allowing members of the ruling party to join her on an official trip, according to the country’s presidency.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula flew with some members of the African National Congress (ANC) to Zimbabwe while on an official diplomatic visit using an aircraft belonging to the country’s air force.

The government says Mapisa-Nqakula, who heads the Ministry of Defense and Military Veterans, misused state resources becaus
CNN •

US places travel restrictions on Nigerians involved in violence and rigging during elections

The US government has placed travel restrictions on Nigerians who undermine “democratic process or organize election-related violence” during elections.

This latest move follows a decision in January 2019 to deny visas to individuals involved in electoral violence.

Last year travel restrictions were also placed on individuals who were involved in corruption and electoral violence during the country’s general elections in February - March 2019.

The lastest visa restrictions affect “individuals
CNN •

They landed scholarships abroad. Now they are stranded as their government fails to pay the money.

When Nigerian student Mercy Eyo landed a foreign postgraduate scholarship in July 2019, she had just lost her father. A year earlier, her mother had passed away.

She was elated about the prospect of starting a master’s degree in global health care management at Coventry University, in the United Kingdom, with a scholarship from a Nigerian government agency.

“I was super excited … I felt it was a consolation that would change my life forever,” Eyo said.

“It was that one little time I had hope

Fighting Coronavirus in a World That Never Stops Talking – KENNEDY SCHOOL REVIEW

It is not my pleasure to endorse tightening control over information creation and publicity. As a journalist who thrives on the vast benefits of a free press and the newly rapid pace at which news travels, only the coronavirus pandemic provided a rare moment to rethink my position on information regulation. The world, in managing future epidemics, would fare better if information becomes more regulated and centralized – in its sources, quantity, and quality.

True, communication technologies hav

Anger as Lagos residents protest against motorcycle ban

A week after the introduction of the ban on the popular two- and three-wheeled vehicle, its impact has been widespread.

Lagos, Nigeria – Holding a white placard above her head and surrounded by a group of young people, Sally had a clear message.

“All we want is for the government to lift the ban until an alternative is made ready,” she said.

Sally was referring to a recent decision by authorities in Nigeria‘s commercial capital, Lagos, to outlaw commercial motorcycles and tricycles from most
the Guardian •

Can Buhari win over his enemies to unite a deeply divided Nigeria? | Orji Sunday

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari will be sworn in on Wednesday, the former military dictator taking a new four-year tenure after a keenly contested election in February.

When the results were announced, it cleanly split national emotion into joy and sadness – a divide that now has knitted back together into widely felt indifference.

Though the result is still being contested in court, Buhari emerged with 56% of the vote, a good enough margin to avoid a runoff against the nearest opposition
Media Diversified •

Can President Muhammadu Buhari now triumph over the issues facing Nigeria?

Muhammadu Buhari’s election triumph was one thing, but working to overcome the challenges in Nigeria is now quite another. Orji Sunday discusses the issues the new president must now face.

Being Nigeria’s president is a painful pleasure. After all, most leaderships, if not all are driven principally by the premise of flashy honours and thorny responsibility. So when Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president elect is sworn in on May 29, for a second four-year term, it will be a sober celebration dri
How the postponement of Nigerian elections could affect the polls •

How the postponement of Nigerian elections could affect the polls

When Nigeria’s presidential election was postponed on February 16, it was not warmly received by the masses. It is not the first time something like his has happened. In 2011, the parliamentary election was moved forward and in 2015, the presidential election was shifted up by two weeks. Unlike the current reaction, agitation was minimal.

“Following a careful review of the implementations of the its logistics and operational and the determination of the conduct of free, fair and credible electi
African Arguments •

"Young people are not just the future of Nigeria. They are Nigeria today.”

Increasing youth representation in Nigeria’s closed political system will be an uphill battle, but Not Too Young To Run activists are ready to fight.

Near the heart of government in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, a defiant Chioma Agwuegbo thrusts her placard into the air. Her voice adds to the swelling chants coming from demonstrators all around her.

After a while, she wriggles to the front of the hundreds-strong crowd assembled near the National Assembly and Presidential Villa at Aso Rock. With her

Nigeria’s ‘cattle colony’ problem

Why a controversial policy proposed by the Nigerian government will not resolve land disputes in Nigeria.

Since the New Year, more than 80 people have been killed in clashes between nomadic herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria’s central Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states. Herders, mostly from the Fulani ethnic group, and farmers often clash over the use of fertile land.

For a very long time, the Nigerian government did not offer a concrete plan to solve the problem, doing little more than giving cli
African Arguments •

Biafra 50 years on: Remembering, regretting, repeating history?

Half a century on from the 30 May declaration of independence from Nigeria, calls for secession are growing again.

As he casts his mind back to 50 years ago, a look of vacant sadness crosses Christopher Ejiofor’s face. Today, the still-muscular 71-year-old is a traditional chief in Enugu state. But back in 1967, he had freshly graduated from studying aeronautics engineering in the UK.

Unbeknownst to the young man at the time though, events were to rapidly overtake any aspirations he had to bui
YNaija •

Opinion: When a nation decides to forget her past

When David Lowenthal wrote those beautiful words in the ancient, memorable, annals of history, he delivered a vital counsel to those who would, in stark error, contemplate fiddling with history; the knowledge bank of all ages. He desired to have a generation of individuals and nations who would render to history her greatly cherished place of pride and above all a swift passage to posterity and the humanity therein.

He wished that from a single age to another, the vital knowledge of the past wo

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