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For a continent whose merits have been overshadowed by wars, natural disasters, poverty and human displacements, the Nobel Prize for literature awarded to the Nigerian Wole Soyinka in 1986 must have come as a shock to those audiences with little knowledge of the presence of a wealth of contemporary African literatures. This shock could only be the result of years …

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka turns 90 on 13 July. Femi Awoniyi and Michael Nnaji look at the life of the literary giant as a political and rights activist in the service of humanity. Born Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka on 13 July 1934 in Abeokuta, south-western Nigeria, this truly great man of many parts is often wrongly reduced to the Nobel Prize …

The Africa Centre London has rolled out an elaborate programme to celebrate the life of Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel laureate in Literature (1986), to mark the Nigerian writer’s 90th birthday. From Friday, July 19 to Saturday, July 27, The Africa Centre will come alive with exhibitions, roundtables, film screenings, live music performances and poetry recitals to celebrate the …

Germany is not obliged to automatically recognise persons seeking protection as refugees because they already have been granted refugee status in another EU country. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in Luxembourg on Tuesday that the states of the European Union are not obliged to take such action. Background to the case: A Syrian national who obtained refugee status …

In commemoration of this year’s World’s Refugee Day on 20 June, the head of a Catholic relief organisation has described the refugee crisis in South Sudan as “one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of our time”. He has now challenged the international community to live up to its responsibility in the country by putting the crisis “right at the top …

New WHO report highlights how big industry fuels chronic diseases, obstructs health policy and targets vulnerable people A pioneering report from the WHO Regional Office for Europe spells out clearly how specific powerful industries are driving ill-health and premature mortality across Europe and central Asia, including through interfering in and influencing prevention and control efforts for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such …

To mark the 2024 World Refugee Day, a broad alliance of refugee aid organisations, the church, politicians and cultural figures are organising many activities to commemorate the more than 60,000 people who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean or at Europe’s borders since 1993. World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees …

As Euro 2024 draws near, football fans across Europe will be eagerly anticipating seeing their teams compete for the prestigious trophy in Germany this summer. As excitement builds, here’s a look at which teams the bookmakers are tipping as the favourites to win the tournament.  Online casino experts KingCasinoBonus have examined the odds from a list of popular bookmakers to …

Germany is set to sign a migration deal with Kenya. This was disclosed by Germany’s Special Envoy for Migration Agreements, Joachim Stamp, in an interview with the Rheinische Post, according to the German press agency dpa. German government is currently negotiating migration agreements with some non-EU countries, including Kenya, in its quest to make migration to Germany more orderly and …

The 24th International Migration Conference will take place from 12 to 14 June 2024 at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Focus of the conference is on the topic «Global Citizenship Education» and «current pressing challenges in the context of migration and ‘Sustainable Global Social Work’». With the conference theme “Global Citizenship Education”, the 24th International Migration Conference has chosen a …

Afro-German politician and member of the CDU party Kevin Uguru has congratulated Ambassador Dr Jonathan Ojadah over the award conferred on him by US President Joe Biden. Ojadah, a Nigerian humanitarian icon, was honoured by the American leader with the ‘President’s Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his immense contributions to international peace and development. “I, on behalf of the American people, …

Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), condemns discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs as well as anti-Black racism, and calls for decisive action against all forms of hatred. She makes a recommendation on how to tackle Afrophobia more effectively at the European level ——- Discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs has no place in our …

New data has revealed the most ‘TikTokable’ European cities, with Berlin and Hamburg making the top ten.  Using data sourced from Statista, marketing experts at Upbeat Agency analysed the number of views each European city had received on TikTok.  Barcelona is the most popular European city on TikTok, with 106.1 billion views. The cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s most popular tourist …

USD$3.4 million grant from Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) and Energizing Development (EnDev) will subsidize the cost of each unit for households in refugee camps and surrounding host communities  SAN FRANCISCO, CA., AND NAIROBI, KENYA – Wednesday 15 May 2024 – d.light, the global provider of transformational household products and affordable finance for low-income households, is providing 10,000 subsidized solar home …

The book Confidence in Diplomacy – Defending Nigeria at Home and Abroad is an account of the author’s nearly 30 years of service in Nigerian diplomacy. It’s a journey that began in 1982 when Alhaji Abdul Rimdap joined the foreign affairs ministry and ended in 2010 when he retired while serving the country as ambassador to Germany. His distinguished international …

For allegedly not cooperating in readmitting its citizens repatriated from Europe, the Council of European Union has announced temporary restrictions to the grant of visa to citizens of Ethiopia by Schengen member states. Henceforth, member states will no longer waive requirements with regard to the evidence to be submitted by Ethiopian visa applicants, will not issue multiple entry visas and …

There is an ongoing legislative process to legalise female genital mutilation in The Gambia. Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana*, member of the European Parliament, writes on the position of the European MPs on the controversial move as well as on the concerns of African organisations in Germany should the harmful practice be legalised in The Gambia The practice of female genital mutilation …

30 April, Geneva – Better Cotton, the world’s largest cotton sustainability initiative, is to conduct sustainability mapping and assessments in West and Central Africa to enhance its understanding of the needs of smallholder farmers in the region and identify context-specific interventions. Funded by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), these assessments will inform ways in which targeted support can aid the production of more …

The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship are just around the corner, and with summer fast approaching, many people across Europe will be supporting their country’s squad in Germany. With ten different German cities hosting the games from 14 June to 14 July 2024, knowing where you’ll spend most of your money or how much to take with you is important. …

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of twelve consuls-general and five chargés d’affaires to represent Nigeria in fourteen countries. The announcement was made by Alkasim Abdulkadir, the Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy to Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a statement released on Tuesday. Among the new appointees is Ambassador Yakubu Dadu, who is …