EUROPE

The European Commission has appointed a former professional basketball player, Michaela Moua, as its first-ever Anti-Racism Co-ordinator, adding that the newly created post was in line with its anti-racism action plan. Ms Moua, a Finnish national of African origin, said she was “extremely excited about this opportunity to achieve real justice” in her reaction to the appointment, which was announced …

The European Union has spoken out in defence of Spain, after thousands of migrants from Morocco entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in north Africa. “Europe expresses its solidarity with Ceuta and Spain,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday (18 May), in a tweet. At least 6,000 migrants, including mothers cradling children and whole families, reached …

New entry regulations that make life easier for travellers entered into force on Thursday. The new regulation is the most far-reaching relaxation of rules for arriving passengers since the beginning of the pandemic in Germany last year. The federal cabinet passed the new rules, which are also intended to standardise the regulations of individual federal states and make travelling within …

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been awarded the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma for her advocacy against antiziganism. “We must outlaw antiziganism just as we outlaw anti-Semitism,” Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, said in his address at a ceremony which took place in Mannheim on Wednesday. He pointed to the …

In pursuit of its goal of more inclusiveness and widening its horizon, the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE), under the leadership of Dr Bashir Obasekola, has appointed several Ad-Hoc Committees to help it achieve its objectives. The Committees are: 1. Ad-Hoc Committee on Youths inclusion Mandate and objectives: Inclusion of the youth is paramount for NIDOE to continue as …

The Austrian chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) has elected Mrs Subrinah Ego Dolischka as its first female chairperson. The NIDOE-Austria general election, conducted virtually on 27 March 2021, was well organised by the electoral committee under the chairmanship Engr Oluyemi Ogundele, a former chairman of the organisation. The committee adopted the E-voting method due to the …

Across Europe, the pandemic has had a disproportionate negative impact on people with a migration background, not only in terms of health but also jobs, education, language training and other integration measures. Because immigrants live in overcrowded housing conditions and are concentrated in jobs where physical distancing is difficult, among other reasons, they are at much higher risk of coronavirus …

Calls for political consequences are loud as Germany commemorates the first anniversary of the racist killings in the western German city of Hanau. On 19 February 2020, a 43-year-old German shot dead nine people with foreign roots in Hanau out of sheer racially-motivated hate — One year ago, on 19 February 2020, a 43-year-old German in Hanau had shot and …

The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) presented its Leadership Service Award 2020 to His Excellency Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic Nigeria to Germany, on Monday, 1 February 2021. The award is in recognition of the envoy’s “excellent and outstanding personal achievements and leadership” and his “immense contributions to National Development”. While presenting the award at …

To slow down the spread of particularly contagious coronavirus mutations, the federal government has drastically restricted entry from Portugal, Ireland, Great Britain, South Africa and Brazil into Germany beginning from Saturday (30 January). According to the new ordinance passed by the federal cabinet, airlines, rail, bus and shipping companies are in principle no longer allowed to transport passengers from these …

Hundreds of thousands of people have left Britain due to the effects of the pandemic on the economy, a new study carried out by the London’s Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence has revealed. The study said that there is an “unprecedented exodus” of workers born outside Britain. According to the authors, “It seems that much of the burden of job losses …

The annual Henley Passport Index has just been released. It ranks passports according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free. The latest ranking named Japan as the country with the most powerful passport in the world followed by Singapore while Germany and South Korea tie for third place Holders of the Japanese passport can travel visa-free …

Due to drastically increasing numbers of infections, London has declared a “state of emergency” or “major incident”. The mayor of the British capital, Sadiq Khan, wrote in a press release that the threat from the virus had reached a critical point. “One in 30 London residents currently has Covid-19. If we don’t respond immediately, our health service is at risk …

Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament, representing Germany on the platform of the Green Party, writes on her efforts to make Europe leave up to its self-professed commitment to upholding the memory of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and work for the mitigation of its present-day negative legacies, such as racism and discrimination —– In June 2020, the European …

What you need to know about visiting the UK from 1 January 2021

Osasere ‘Joy’ Igbineweka, popularly known as Mama Prosper, was laid to rest in a solemn ceremony in Frankfurt on Friday 11 December. She had died in the morning of 26 November in the German city. Despite the unfavourable weather condition and the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, friends and family members turned out in a large number to pay their last respects …

Two thirds of women in women’s shelters (Frauenhäusern) in Germany have a migration background, according to a recent survey. Some of the reasons why women seek protection in such homes, commonly called refuge for battered women, include domestic violence and lack of money to rent their own accommodation. According to the statistics of the Women’s Shelter Coordination (Frauenhauskoordinierung) presented in …

Former President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has heaped praises on his countrymen and women who live outside the country for their “immense sacrifice” for their homeland. Dr Jonathan made the remarks on Tuesday while receiving an award from the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) in Yenagoa. The award was presented to the former Nigerian leader by the president of …

Starting from the decade of Ghana’s independence until today, the book, by Desmond John Beddy, traces the history of Ghanaian presence in Germany excellently – the motivation for migrating to Germany, the categories of those migrating, and how these changed over the decades, and the reasons for the changes..

From next year, unemployed people and families are to benefit from newly approved social laws by the Bundesrat.  —– The Bundesrat, Germany’s upper house of parliament, approved a series of Social Laws on Friday which will see an increase in benefits for unemployed people and families as from next year. The Bundestag, the lower house, had already passed the laws …