News

The Nigerian Army has driven Boko Haram militants from their last camp in the northeastern Sambisa forest, President Muhammadu Buhari has said in a statement. The military has launched a large-scale offensive against the jihadist group in recent weeks. Buhari said in a statement that the head of the army informed him on Friday, 23 December that the last major Boko Haram …

More than 5,000 migrants are thought to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016, a record figure described as “a devastating milestone” by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). On Thursday, 23 December alone, some 100 mainly West Africans were feared to have perished making the treacherous crossing to Europe. To save lives, the UNHCR says legal entry for those …

President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia stands the risk of being forcefully removed from power should he carry out his threat to sit tight after losing the December 1 election. ECOWAS leaders warned yesterday that they would not hesitate to send troops to Banjul, if Jammeh, who lost the election to opposition candidate, Adama Barrow, fails to step down next month. Senegal,which …

Congolese politicians have agreed in principle to a deal under which President Joseph Kabila willl leave office by the end of 2017, opposition leaders said on Friday, 23 December, an unexpected breakthrough after dozens were killed in anti-government protests this week. If the deal does succeed, it would be a major achievement for the Catholic church, which has been mediating …

Anis Amri, the chief suspect in Monday’s truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market, has been shot dead by police in Milan. Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told a news conference on Friday morning that Amri was killed during a shootout with police at 3am. Amri opened fire during a routine check when he was asked for his identity documents …

The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the payment of 5 per cent of recovered looted fund to the whistle blower behind the recovery. Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun briefed State House correspondents at the end of the cabinet meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, 21 December. According to her, the programme is designed to encourage anyone with …

More details have been released about the man all Europe’s police are now looking for. It appears the main suspect in the Berlin truck attack was previously known to German police, and a 100,000 euro reward is being offered for his capture. He has been identified as Tunisian-born 24-year-old Anis Amri, who had previously served four years in an Italian …

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani reports on the trafficking of young women from Nigeria to Italy which, according to international migration organisations, has significantly increased in the past two years. The report, sponsored by Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change, exposes the intricacies of the sex trade. EDO, …

Berlin-based daily newspaper TAZ claims that European industrial and arms companies will be among the beneficiaries of plans to grant financial aid to African countries that  keep migrants away from Europe, take back failed asylum-seekers and introduce biometric controls at their borders. “The funds which African countries have been promised to help them fight migration will find their way, first …

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has declared President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for the next presidential election in 2018. By then he will be aged 94. His supporters broke into thunderous applause and chanted “tongai, tongai baba” [rule, rule father] as the Zanu-PF annual conference nominated Mugabe on Saturday in the south-eastern town of Masvingo . Mugabe has been in …

An extra-ordinary meeting of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Worldwide, consisting of its chapters in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, took place on 4 December. The meeting evaluated the current efforts to establish a Diaspora Commission and offers its views on this development. Below is the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting: ——————————————– Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation Continues …

West African leaders under the auspices of the regional ECOWAS have jointly called on Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh to step when his term of office expires in January. Meeting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Saturday, the eleven presidents present at the body’s 50th ordinary session called on Jammeh to accept the results and refrain from compromising a peaceful handover of …

The news of Delali Afiwoa Assigbley’s death in a horrific manner went round the world. It’s a death that would shake the most hard-hearted human being. On Wednesday, 7 December Delali’s husband, Koffi W., poured petrol on her in the streets of Kronshagen, near the northern German city of Kiel, and set her ablaze. Before the fire could be put …

New UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday announced the appointment of Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed as Deputy Secretary-General. “I am pleased to announce that I will be appointing Ms Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria as my Deputy Secretary-General, and Ms Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil as my Chef De Cabinet. I also intend to create the position of Special Advisor …

The study, covering 14 federal ministries, the federal armed forces and eight federal agencies, showed that 14.8 per cent of all public servants are of migrant origin. A similar study conducted in 2013 discovered that only 6.7 per cent of federal employees had a migration background.

A high-powered diplomatic move to resolve the gathering crisis in The Gambia seems to have suffered a setback. A delegation of West African leaders failed to convince Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on Tuesday to hand over power to opposition leader, Adama Barrow, who defeated him at the presidential election held on 1 December. The leaders – Presidents Muhammadu Buhari of …

Reuters – The European Union, under an agreement published on Monday, will provide funds to Mali to help it create jobs and strengthen border management in return for the African country’s aid in fighting people smugglers and accepting deportees from Europe. The Mali agreement comes as the EU is stepping up migration collaboration with countries of origin and transit in …

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born and raised in Ga-Maami (Accra Central) and in the Nima area of Accra. His father’s residence, Betty House at Korle Wokon in Accra, was effectively the headquarters of the country’s first political party, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), after it was formed at Saltpond on 4 August 1947. Three of the ‘Big Six’ …

Ghanaians have elected Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the candidate of the main opposition party, New Patriotic Party (NPP), as their new president. Akufo-Addo, 72, who ran for the office for the third time, comfortably edged out incumbent president, John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) by almost 10 points. The Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG) tweeted late on Friday, …

Passers-by describe the scene as horrific as an African man poured petrol on his wife in broad daylight in the northern German town of Kronshagen, near Kiel on Wednesday. The Kieler Nachrichten, a daily newspaper, reports that the man poured fuel over his wife, both originally from Togo, as she left a clinic in the town before setting her ablaze. …