August 02, 2022
Ghana: On Ghana's Roads in 2022 - Safety Has Improved but Private Vehicles Are Still a Menace
Africa is the globe's least motorised region, accounting for just 2% of the world's vehicles. Yet it records the highest rate of road deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO)… Read more »
Nigeria: Persecution of Christians in Nigeria Is More Complicated Than It Seems
Nigeria has a long history of religious tensions against which the current spate of violence against Christians must be seen. Read more »
August 01, 2022
Nigeria: Ride-Hailing in Lagos - Algorithmic Impacts and Driver Resistance
In July 2014, the ride-hailing app Uber emerged in Lagos, offering the public improved mobility through technology. Uber, at the time, was valued at US$18 billion and had launched… Read more »
July 31, 2022
Ghana: James Hutton Brew - Gold Coast Abolitionist Who Exposed Britain's Anti-Slavery Hypocrisy
The literature and research on the abolition of slavery in places like Gold Coast (modern day Ghana) has tended to have a Eurocentric focus. Most has focused on colonial… Read more »
July 27, 2022
Ghana: How Costly Political Realities Undercut Electricity Reforms
Ghana reformed its electricity sector by the book but has lurched from blackouts between 2012 and 2015 to a glut of energy which costs government about 5% of GDP. Fitch ranks the… Read more »
July 26, 2022
Nigeria: Facial Injuries Hurt Nigerians' Pockets Too - How to Reduce the Burden
Injury to the face - from road traffic accidents, for example - can leave a person with a damaged appearance or functional impairment, like difficulty chewing. Treatment helps to… Read more »
Nigeria: Why the Hijab Controversy Persists in Nigeria's Public Schools
Hijab use in Nigeria's public schools has become highly controversial, in some cases leading to riots, fatalities, the destruction of school property and the closure of schools.… Read more »
July 24, 2022
Nigeria: Lifesaving Maternal Health Services Are So Close, Yet So Far For Pregnant Women Living In Sub-Saharan Africa's Largest Metropolis
Every year around the world, 295,000 women die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Seven in 10 of these maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. These deaths are… Read more »
July 25, 2022
Nigeria: Setting the Record Straight - Burna Boy Didn't Create a Music Genre Called Afrofusion
Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu was born in 1991 in Port Harcourt, the largest city in Rivers State in Nigeria. He would become known as Burna Boy, a singer, songwriter and record producer… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Jailbreaks Point to a Prison System Out of Step With Reality
On the night of 5 July 2022, 879 inmates escaped from the Kuje correctional facility in Abuja, Nigeria after an attack by suspected Boko Haram terrorists. Prior to this, the… Read more »
July 23, 2022
Ghana: The Marburg Virus - Urgent Need to Contain This Close Cousin of Ebola
In July 2022 Ghana confirmed its first two cases of the deadly Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. The Conversation… Read more »
July 21, 2022
Nigeria: Votes for Cash - the Significance of Vote Buying in Nigeria's Democracy
The 2022 primary and gubernatorial elections in Nigeria brought to the fore the reality of vote buying. Read more »
July 20, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria Hasn't Been Able to Produce Steel - Remanufacturing Could Be the Solution
Nigeria has pumped more than US$8 billion into Ajaokuta Steel Company, a project which began more than 40 years ago but has yet to produce one tonne of steel. Read more »
July 19, 2022
Africa: Superstars Sadio Mané and Mo Salah Eclipse African Football At Home
Senegal's Sadio Mané and Egypt's Mo Salah are among 10 players nominated for the African Footballer of the Year prize at this year's Caf Awards held by the Confederation of… Read more »
Nigeria: Islam Has a Small Presence in Nigeria's Igbo Region - What a New Quran Translation Offers
A new translation of the Quran into the Igbo language was launched on 1 July 2022 at the Ansar-Ud-Deen Mosque in Abuja, Nigeria. According to the translator, Muhammed Muritala… Read more »
July 18, 2022
Ghana: Genetically Modified Cowpea Clears Its First Hurdle, but There's a Long Way to Go
Genetically modified (GM) cowpea has cleared the first of the three regulatory hurdles in the way of commercialisation in Ghana. If it is commercialised, it will be the first GM… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Large, Youthful Population Could Be an Asset or a Burden
With a population estimated at 206 million in 2020, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and seventh in the world. Read more »
July 17, 2022
Ghana: Ghana's Return to the IMF Within Three Years Underscores Its Deeper Economic Problems
Ghana is again seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable the country to meet its payments to the rest of the world and restore the health of… Read more »
July 14, 2022
Nigeria: 100 Years of Popular Music in Nigeria - What Shaped Four Eras
The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020 shut down nearly all physical and social human activities. For musical practice this meant near death.… Read more »
July 12, 2022
West Africa: Herder-Farmer Conflict in the Sahel Needs a New Description - Why 'Eco-Violence' Fits
The Sahel - a 5,000km long strip of the African continent stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea - has become the most neglected and conflict-ridden part of the planet.… Read more »
July 07, 2022
Nigeria: Wole Soyinka's Life of Writing Holds Nigeria Up for Scrutiny
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known simply as Wole Soyinka, can't be easily described. He is a teacher, an ideologue, a scholar and an iconoclast, an elder statesman, a… Read more »
June 30, 2022
Central Africa: Covid Hurt West and Central Africa's Small-Scale Fishers. They Need More Support
From Senegal through Ghana to Cameroon, small-scale fishing is both a livelihood and a way of life for people in coastal parts of West and Central Africa, with more than two… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Top Judge Leaves the Justice System in a Mess. Here's How His Successor Can Fix It.
Nigeria's Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad has resigned in the wake of corruption allegations. President Muhammadu Buhari immediately swore in the most senior judge of the Supreme… Read more »
June 29, 2022
Nigeria: 'Gain a Child, Lose a Tooth' - Old Saying Holds True for Women in Northern Nigeria
Childbearing has an impact on the health of women, and the impact grows with the number of times a woman has been pregnant for longer than 24 weeks. Pregnancy and breastfeeding put… Read more »
June 28, 2022
Nigeria: How Nigeria Can Turn Its Huge Cashew Waste Into Valuable Citric Acid
Nigeria - the sixth largest producer of cashew nuts globally - exports more than 80% of its raw cashews primarily to Vietman and India where they are processed into variuous… Read more »