Rwandan Stories of Change held an international conference at the University of St Andrews on the 6th of July 2018. We brought together scholars from across the Humanities and Social Sciences to explore how Rwanda has changed since the genocide of 1994. Chijioke Kizito Onah, Masters Student of Anglophone Literatures, Cultures and Media, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, recently attended …

The refrain at the Stakeholders’ Roundtable Dialogue on Migration, organised by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), last weekend was an appeal to Nigerian youths to acquire vocational skills. Addressing the event, a series of consultation with civil society on issues deriving from irregular migration, Engr. Deremi Elebute called on youths to realize that the nation’s job market had changed …

Germany replaced the United States as the country with the best global image in a survey of 50 countries, according to the 2017 Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index. Simon Anholt, founder of the Index, talks about Germany’s image – and the responsibility that it creates. Germany was ranked number 1 in the most recent Nation Brands Index (NBI). What were the reasons …

Agreement reinstates rebel leader Riek Machar as vice-president, formally ending five years of bloody civil war. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir signed a peace deal with main rebel leader Riek Machar on Wednesday, formally ending a five-year war that killed tens of thousands. The deal, mediated by Sudan and signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, reinstated Machar in his …

The Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) has warned would-be migrants to avoid irregular routes as the security situation in Libya worsens and death rates in the Mediterranean soar. In a statement released Tuesday in Lagos and jointly signed by the co-directors of the initiative, Kenneth Gbandi and Femi Awoniyi, the MEPN pointed to the declaration of a state of emergency …

Leading international money transfer company WorldRemit has launched a new digital service within Africa, making it easier to send and receive money across the continent. The new digital service will reduce the cost of sending money across borders. The prohibitive charges that individuals and businesses pay to transfer money within Africa are recognised as a major obstacle to the growing …

Professor Pius Adesanmi, director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University in Canada, will participate at a public discussion on African literature in Berlin on 26 September. The event, organised by the literary agency InterKontinental, will take place in Literaturhaus Berlin. Adesanmi is well known for his often satiric writings, focusing on the absurd in the Nigerian social …

The family of former United Nations Secretary General have published a tribute to the man hailed as a reformer at the global diplomacy outfit.  It is published on the website of the Kofi Annan Foundation and produced here below. On 18 August, the world lost a leader and a statesman: Kofi Atta Annan. And we lost a brother, a husband, a …

African leaders are in the Chinese city of Beijing for a high-level summit hosted by the Chinese government. The Forum for Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC)  Summit is a meeting between the two partners and is largely premised on ways to increase diplomatic, economic and bilateral ties. It officially kicks off on September 3 through to September 4. This year’s edition is themed …

Almost 20,000 people have marched through Berlin and Hamburg demanding that Germany take in more migrants stranded at sea. Sunday’s marches were organized in response to the violent anti-migrant protests in Chemnitz. Up to 16,000 people marched through the northern German city of Hamburg on Sunday, urging officials to open up the city’s ports to stranded migrant rescue ships in …

Protests by some residents in a Paris neighbourhood resulted in the postponement of the opening of a migrant reception centre for hundreds of migrants in the French capital. The Paris prefecture has postponed the opening of a migrant reception centre for hundreds of migrants in Paris in the arrondissement of Montmartre, after residents staged a protest. Residents said they were …

Namibia marked the return by Germany of the remains of indigenous men and women killed during the colonial era, with a traditional ceremony in Windhoek’s Parliament Gardens on Friday. The personal apology by the German official who travelled to Windhoek for the ceremony falls far short of what the Herero and Nama demand. But the descendants of the victims appeared …

The UK Government has announced a new £70-million programme to create 100,000 jobs in Nigeria, says the Minister of State for Africa, Harriett Baldwin. Baldwin said this during a business event as part of the activities for Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Nigeria on Wednesday. Baldwin, who led a business delegation to the event, said that the programme would …

While the focus of awareness campaigns have been on the travails of those journeying north to Europe through Libya, Nigerians travelling by land irregularly towards South Africa are also suffering hell. That was the revelation made by Dr Kingsman Chikelu, Chairman of the Africa chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) in Enugu on Saturday at the Stakeholders’ Roundtable …

In what is akin to a giant step since its founding in 2000, the London-headquartered Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE), has opened a liaison office in the nation’s capital Abuja, signalling its intention to play a more robust role in national affairs. The brief ceremony, marking the event on Monday, was attended by among others Prof Nick Eze, CEO …

Muslims are celebrating Eid el-Kabir (known also as Eid al-Adha) as more than 2 million pilgrims carry out the final days of Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Muslims across the world are celebrating the festival of Eid el-Kabir, which coincides with the final rites of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. While many will celebrate on Tuesday, millions of others, including in …

“For people wishing to study in Germany, it is not difficult to get a visa. It is easier than you think. It requires filing the details or you can just go to our website,” – Mr Bernhard Schlagheck, German Ambassador to Nigeria,  July 2017 ————————————————– One of the legal ways to migrate to Europe is to go there to study. …

The Swiss Federal Council has adopted new regulations that would require foreigners residing in Switzerland to meet certain criteria of good behaviour before their residence permits are renewed. The seven-member executive body adopted the new regulations on Wednesday (15 August) as part of the revision of the Act on Foreign Nationals. The new rules will enter into force in 2019. …

The series of consultation with civil society on irregular migration, organised by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), kicked off in Abuja on Saturday [18 August]. The Stakeholders’ Roundtable Dialogue on Migration brought together youths, parents and multipliers, such as journalists, artists, educationists and religious leaders, among others, to exchange ideas and experiences on the issues deriving from irregular migration. …

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the floodgates of tribute for one of his predecessors, Kofi Annan, who died yesterday aged 80 after a short illness in Geneva, Switzerland. Guterres described Annan, who won the Nobel Peace prize in 2001, as a guiding force for good. Guterres in his tribute said: “it is with profound sadness that I learned …