Africa’s promising sports future evident at the 13th Africa Games in Accra

By Bonface Orucho, bird story agency After three weeks of intense field and track event actions across multiple venues in Accra, the 13th edition of the Africa Games came to a close this past weekend. The pan-African sporting event has, yet again, showcased Africa's rich and diverse sports talent, with more than 35 countries participating across 23 sports disciplines. Egypt led with 107 gold, 47 silver, and 42 […]

March 25, 2024 11

World

Hundreds of Nigerian children are being kidnapped – the government must change its security strategy

By Al Chukwuma Okoli, Federal University Lafia School abductions have been a trend in Nigeria. The latest took place in Kaduna and Sokoto states, both in the north-west region, when over 300 children were abducted at different times in March 2024. Previous prominent cases have included the Chibok, Dapchi and Kankara abductions, which insurgents claimed to have perpetrated. As a security scholar and analyst who has researched and […]

March 25, 2024 15

Africa

Pangolins in Africa: expert unpacks why millions have been traded illegally and what can be done about it

By Olajumoke Morenikeji, University of Ibadan Pangolins are fascinating creatures known for their unique appearance and distinctive scales. They are mammals belonging to the order Pholidota and are native to Africa and Asia. Due to their primary diet of ants and termites, pangolins are often referred to as “scaly anteaters”. The African pangolin species are dispersed throughout southern, western, central and east Africa. Pangolins face rapid […]

March 22, 2024 51

Africa

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal was too sudden: why a gradual approach would have been better

By Stephen Onyeiwu, Allegheny College Nigeria removed fuel subsidies entirely in May 2023. This came as a surprise because of the political risks associated with subsidy removal. Previous administrations were reluctant to jettison the subsidies. The subsidies had been in place since the 1970s, when the government sold petrol to Nigerians at a price below cost – though most consumers weren’t aware of this. The 1977 […]

March 20, 2024 11

Africa

Cameroon’s rebels may not achieve their goal of creating the Ambazonian state – but they’re still a threat to stability

By Manu Lekunze, University of Aberdeen Cameroon’s separatist insurgency is an armed conflict in the country’s North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions that began in 2017. It pits government forces against several non-state armed groups, locally known as “Amba rebels”. The rebels seek to create a state called Ambazonia out of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The conflict has killed over 6,000 people and displaced 765,000. Over […]

March 18, 2024 3

Africa

Inflation in Nigeria is still climbing while it has slowed globally: here’s why

By Stephen Onyeiwu, Allegheny College Just as Nigerians were gradually digging out from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were hit by high inflation. The Nigerian economy contracted by 6.1% at the peak of COVID in the second quarter of 2020. Unemployment rate rose from 27% in the second quarter of 2020 to 33% in the fourth quarter of the same year. The World Bank estimated […]

March 14, 2024 21

Africa

Appetite from local investors fuels surge in African startup funding

By Seth Onyango, bird story agency Despite a steep downturn in startup funding in Africa since 2022, more African investors are channelling substantial investments into homegrown enterprises. This is a marked departure from the previous years, when North American investors, particularly from the U.S., led the charge in startup funding across the continent. Analysis from Africa: The Big Deal identified at least 619 unique investors who participated in […]

March 14, 2024 38

Africa

Lagos bans single-use plastics – why I think Nigeria should have taxed them instead

By Kehinde Allen-Taylor, Technical University Braunschweig Waste pollution is a huge problem in Nigeria, with serious impacts on the environment. In response, the Lagos state government has banned styrofoam (a type of plastic widely used as food containers) and other single-use products. Following a three-week moratorium for producers and sellers to mop up styrofoam containers, enforcement began on 4 March 2024. In 2019, Nigeria was estimated to […]

March 12, 2024 22

Africa

Nigeria risks losing all its forest elephants – what we found when we went looking for them

By Rosemary Iriowen Egonmwan, University of Lagos and Bola Oboh, University of Lagos Nigeria is one of 37 African countries where elephants are found in the wild. Savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) can be found in the north and forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the south. It’s not clear how many elephants there are in Nigeria. Eighteen years ago, the African Elephant Study Report estimated that there were […]

March 12, 2024 18

Nigeria