Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, Gambia’s first post-independence president who led the small West African country for 24 years before being deposed in a 1994 coup, has died at the age of 95, the Gambian presidency said on Tuesday. The office of President Adama Barrow, whose election in 2016 brought an end to the rule of the army officer who toppled …

After being grounded for 18 years, Uganda Airlines has taken to the skies again, restoring its status as the country’s national carrier Uganda Airlines launched its maiden flight on Tuesday (27 August) after eighteen years in the doldrums. The airline thus becomes the fifth national carrier in the region. Uganda Airlines will initially fly to seven destinations in Kenya, Tanzania, …

Aminata Touré was on Wednesday (28 August) elected the new Vice-President of the state parliament (Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein. She received 46 of the 69 valid votes cast. Schleswig-Holstein is one of the 16 states of Germany and its capital city is Kiel. The 26-year-old Green party member, who is the second youngest member of parliament, said she was “fully relieved …

Professor Jason Osai* of the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, writes on man, religion and soul and how to achieve the eternally sought-after global peace devoid of want and war. Institutional religion has divided the world along a multiplicity of jaded philosophical and theological lines thereby creating socio-cultural and economic hedgerows that have pitched husband against wife, mother against …

More than 25 percent of development aid funds are not spent in developing countries, according to a new study, which shows that expenditure on refugees in Germany takes increasing share of overseas assistance. Researchers warn of the risks of this policy. A significant part of funds for development aid is spent by rich donors within their own borders. This is …

The full programme of a premier event celebrating the African cinema in Germany has been published by its organizers, FilmInitiativ Köln e.V. From 19 to 29 September, the 17th Africa Film Festival Cologne will present around 75 films from 23 African countries. About 30 international guests have been invited to discuss the topical issue “Fundamentalism and Migration”, the theme of …

Baden-Württemberg passed a law requiring non-EU students to pay €1,500 ($1,700) per semester in tuition fees. It came into effect in October 2017. Consequently, seven universities in the state lost a third of their international students that year.

Our Correspondent in Nigeria, Raphael Adenaike, was at the Lagos airport when Nigerian deportees, including a single mother of one, arrived from Germany on Monday 19 August. The deportees, whose asylum applications had been rejected, narrated their personal ordeals and experiences with the German police, immigration officials and medical doctors as well as the Nigerian Embassy to Raphael. With little …

The physical assault on Senator Ike Ekweremadu on 17 August in Nuremberg while the Nigerian frontline politician was attending the 2nd Annual Igbo Cultural Day continues to generate controversy in Nigeria. Kinsmen of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, for example, have called for the thorough investigation, arrest and prosecution of the people, alleged to be members of the separatist Indigenous People of …

Resident foreigners convicted by German courts are increasingly being expelled from the country irrespective of their residency status. This was revealed in the response of the federal government to a parliamentary enquiry of the Linke party in the Bundestag, the news agency epd has reported. According to the report, 7,408 deportation orders were issued last year. In 2017, there were …

An association of indigenes of Anambra State of Nigeria will be launched in the city of Munich of 14 September. The socio-cultural group seeks to pool the efforts of its members for the development of their home state. Among dignitaries expected at the event, at which the Assembly of Anambra State Indigenes e.V. Bayern will be officially inaugurated, include His …

Nigeria has again faulted claims that there were 30,000 of its citizens who are irregular migrants in Germany awaiting repatriation. The Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, said the figure was unrealistic against the background that there’re only 32,000 Nigerians legally resident in the country. “So how could there be 30,000 Nigerians irregularly living in the country?” he …

It was a mammoth crowd, which you would normally expect at a big music concert or sports event, that turned out Friday for the opening of Connecting Afro Futures. Fashion x Hair x Design. The venue was the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) in Berlin. The exhibition, holding from 24 August – 1 December 2019, showcases ‘Fashion, Art, Design, Music, …

Since 1999 when he emerged on the scene, 2Baba Idibia (aka 2Face Idibia) has defined African hip-hop music with his unique voice and style and his popularity just keeps growing. 2Baba – ‘the daddy of Nigerian hip-hop’, who went by the stage name 2Face Idibia until July 2014, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. READ ALSO Two …

The so-called ‘Orderly Return Law’ (das Geordnete-Rückkehr-Gesetz) was approved in June. It went into force on Wednesday (21 August). It gives authorities and police more powers to enforce deportation orders. Critics fear more refugees could now be legally detained. The tightening of rules governing the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers took effect on Wednesday. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said …

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has kicked off the registration of Nigerians resident in Germany. The exercise, being carried out in collaboration with private data management companies, enrols Nigerians, including those living in the diaspora, in the country’s National Identity Database. A registered person is issued a National Identification Number (NIN), a unique set of eleven-digit number. Kicking off …

Nearly one quarter of Germany’s population of 82 million has an immigrant background, according to statistics released Wednesday (21 August). Germany’s statistical agency Destatis said 20.8 million people in 2018 had a so-called “migrant background,” defined as a person who is a migrant or has at least one parent not born as a German citizen. That’s an increase of half …

The SAP Quality Awards were established in 2005 as a means of recognising companies that have excelled in their use of SAP technologies to achieve digital transformation against a number of key metrics. This year, a total of 19 organisations from West, East and Southern Africa were recognised for their outstanding results across a number of successful implementations.

While the assault on Senator Ike Ekweremadu has been strongly condemned by all Nigerian diaspora organisations, some commentators have called for a broader look at the import of the unfortunate incident for the culture of governance in their home country. Dr Ike Ekweremadu, a member of the Nigerian Senate – the upper chamber of the country’s bicameral national legislature, was …

President Muhammadu Buhari swore in the members of his cabinet for his second term in office today and assigned portfolios to the new ministers. The full list is below: Dr. Ikechukwu Ogah (Abia State) – Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development Mohammed Musa Bello (Adamawa State) – Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom State) – …