News

Dr Stella Bosire awarded the Commonwealth Point of Light award for her tireless championing of rights and mentorship of some of society’s most vulnerable people Dr Stella Bosire was awarded the Commonwealth Point of Light award, on 6 March at an event hosted by the British High Commission in Nairobi, focussed on empowering women. Cabinet Secretary Amb Amina Mohammed attended …

Last year, Germany issued more visas for people from outside the EU than in 2018. Above all, more people were given a visa for the purposes of employment. According to Germany’s foreign ministry, the country issued around 2.29 million visas in 2019 – slightly more than in the previous year (2.17 million). The main countries of origin of the recipients …

A tragic shipwreck off the coast of Libya last month and more than a dozen other recent fatalities elsewhere have pushed the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea to 20,014 since 2014, according to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. IOM stands for International Organisation for Migration, a UN agency. “The disappearance and presumed drowning of at least 91 people reported missing …

The German city of Munich will on 28 March host the 5th edition of the annual Impact Initiative, a human capacity development project facilitated by Impacti.org. The event, themed “Personal Development and Social Competence” and holding at the renowned EineWeltHaus in the Bavarian capital, promotes personal empowerment by imparting knowledge and skills. “First started in 2015, the programme was conceived …

The 11th Federal Government Integration Summit took place on Monday at the office of the federal chancellor in Berlin. Since 2006, representatives from the worlds of politics, business, education and civil society have been meeting regularly at the summits to discuss key integration policy issues. Chancellor Merkel used the event this year to kick off a long overdue debate on …

"In Africa, a continent perceived as a group of nations with weak institutions, poor infrastructure and some of the world's horrific conflicts; the inspiring example and impact that one effective leader exemplifies is truly powerful and game changing, not just for the immediate beneficiaries but for the world"

Senegal has become the second country in sub-Saharan Africa to record a coronavirus case, health minister, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr said on Monday at a press conference in the capital, Dakar. The Minister said the victim in question was a French national who entered the country aboard an Air Senegal flight on February 26. Nigeria is the other country in the …

About 100 participants turned out on Saturday in Berlin to commemorate the African victims of slave trade, slavery, colonialism and racist violence. The annual event, which took place for the 8th time in the German capital, demanded an official recognition of the crimes of colonialism and slavery in Africa and the racism that people of African descent suffer across the …

Amid fighting in Syria, some 13,000 people were seeking to cross into Greece from Turkey on Saturday evening (29 February), prompting Greece to close the border and call for EU talks. Europe seems to be under the threat of new waves of irregular migration which could assume the proportion of the 2015 crisis when hundreds of thousands of migrants and …

President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, paid a 2-day State Visit to the Swiss Confederation on 28-29 February. It’s the third time in history that Switzerland organised a State Visit for a leader from Sub-Saharan Africa. The Ghanaian leader and his delegation were received by Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga and her ministers, and both parties held talks on a …

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 …