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Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, confirmed the country’s first case of coronavirus in a statement issued in the early hours of Friday, 28 February. It’s also the first case of the disease registered in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the statement, the case involves an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and just returned from Milan, Italy on 25 …

"After ten years of preparatory work by civil society, there will finally be a place at the end of the year where Berlin will be developed into a globally just city"

Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé has won a fourth term in power, the national electoral commission declared on Monday. According to preliminary results, he received 72% of the vote, defeating six other candidates. Gnassingbé’s closest rival and main opposition leader, Agbéyomé Kodjo, clinched only 18% of the popular vote cast in the election. The final results are expected to be announced …

On 4 March 2020 in Brussels, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group will host the ECR-Africa Summit to discuss policy options about governance, participation of women, foreign direct investment and the digital economy to develop a stronger relationship between the EU and Africa. Guest speaker is the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo. The ECR’s co-chair Ryszard Legutko MEP, who …

On 14 February 2020, the Council of Europe´s Education Department launched a toolkit aimed at integrating refugees as teaching staff or visiting experts into higher education institutions. The “CoLAB Toolkit” presents inclusive practices on how to best integrate refugees based on their competences and qualifications into the academic environment. The toolkit is based on the lessons learned from the project CoLAB implemented …

Nayé Bathily, an official of the World Bank, writes about the increasing role of women in political leadership in Africa and how the continent is showing itself to be a forerunner in the race for gender equality The archetype of the strong African woman standing as an unmoving pillar of her community is one that transcends national borders on the …

The Nigerian government has called on the United States of America to consider the long-standing relationship between the two countries and reverse its visa restrictions on Nigeria. The Federal Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made the call on Wednesday when he received the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, and her team at his office in Abuja. According to a …

The European Union has warned that it could impose restrictive visa implementation rules on Nigeria, if it failed to co-operate in the readmission of its nationals deported from EU member countries. A restrictive visa regime would make obtaining visas to EU countries more difficult for Nigerian applicants. The EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms Virginie Battu-Henriksson, said …

The mass murder in Hanau, a small town near Frankfurt, where on Wednesday a 43-year-old German man gunned down nine people at shisha bars, is the latest albeit most shocking incident in the increasing racist violence in the country. The murderer, identified as Tobias R, also shot his mother before killing himself. “On the suspected perpetrator’s home page, he had …

A one-day Workshop christened Diaspora Voting Initiative held in Abuja on Monday, 17 February. Organised by the UK-based Nigeria Diaspora Voting Council, the event was attended by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser on Political Matters to the President who represented Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Rt. Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House of Representatives: Hon. Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman/CEO …

The EU is rolling out a new naval operation in the Mediterranean to crack down on arms-smuggling into Libya, the latest effort to reduce the influx of weapons into the country and bring the civil war to an end. EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to launch a new military mission off the Libyan coast to enforce a UN arms …

“Why is the world silent over Anglophone Cameroon while men, women and children are killed in the most gruesome manner – shot, hacked, sometimes burnt alive in their homes just because they seek equality?” former President John Jerry Rawlings of Ghana wrote on his Facebook page and Twitter handle on Tuesday (18 February). “Why will Facebook, Twitter and other social …

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, have thrown their weight behind the enfranchisement of Nigerians living in the diaspora. At a sensitisation workshop on diaspora voting, held in Abuja on Monday, Prof Osinbajo, who delivered a keynote speech at the event, said: “The issue of diaspora voting is a significant one, considering …

Alarmed by a rapid spread of Lassa fever, the Nigerian Academy of Science is calling on government to declare a national health emergency. Dr Doyin Odubanjo, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Academy of Science, explains the background to the current outbreak of the disease and what needs to be done to contain it. ———- How serious is the current Lassa fever outbreak …

The power-sharing deal signed in 2018 between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar has already been extended twice – in May 2019 and November 2019 – delaying the formal end to a war that has killed nearly 400,000 people, displaced millions, and pushed tens of thousands to the brink of starvation. The new deadline is 22 February. Unresolved …

Agitation for Nigerians living outside their homeland to be allowed to participate at the country’s elections has suffered a setback. Nigerian legislators on Friday (14 February) dismissed the agitation because the country is not ready for diaspora voting. The Senate, during a debate on the issue, said certain conditions had to be met before Nigeria could allow its citizens living …

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent visit to Angola and South Africa seeks to boost trade and political relations with the continent in continuation of the government’s policy to increase German engagement in Africa. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accompanied by top government officials and senior business executives, paid a state visit to South Africa and Angola from 5 – 8 February. Her …

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, Ghana and Zambia have licensed an Ebola vaccine, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Registration of the vaccine is expected in additional countries in the coming weeks. The licensing of the vaccine means that the manufacturer can stockpile and widely distribute this vaccine to African countries at risk of Ebola virus …

The death toll from the epidemic virus, which WHO has named COVID-19, has neared 1,400 cases, almost exclusively in China where it was first identified.

Sudan has promised to hand over ex-President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to face genocide and war crimes charges, BBC has reported. The new transitional government was reported to have agreed to hand over all actors in the war wanted by the ICC during peace talks with Darfur groups. “Justice cannot be achieved if …