1. FT has a special report on Nigeria at 50. It is worth your time. 2. The BBC also has a special reports page on Nigeria at 50 3. Still with the BBC, some Nigerians are interviewed on how they will be celebrating the 50th independence anniversary 4. Have you seen the official Nigeria at 50 website?… Read More »
Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary is on October 1, 2010. To celebrate it, we are running a series titled Nigeria@50 at the groupblog NigeriansTalk. The first in the series, titled One Nigeria: Nigerian Unity 50 years Post-independence, was written by Kola of KTravula. The second is titled Nigeria at 50: Academic Medicine, and was written by… Read More »
I just got this in the mail. Four interrelated crises are mutually reinforcing each other: climate change, the energy crisis, the food crisis and the financial and economic crisis. But of these, the consequence of the global financial meltdown presents significant challenges for African countries, reversing the gains in economic performance and management made since… Read More »
You probably already know about the Freshlyground music video. Well, in what is probably the least surprising news of the day, the Zimbabwean government has pulled their work visas. Upcoming concerts in Zimbabwe are cancelled. Listen to band members Zo and Simon talk on the PRI’s Global Hits programme here [mp3].
Off to Basel tomorrow for an African Borderlands Research Network conference. As part of a panel on a comparative study of cross-border trade networks in Africa, I will be presenting a paper titled “Benin-Nigeria secondhand clothing cross-border trade in historical perspective”. The abstract: Today, Benin Republic is the main supplier of secondhand clothing to Nigeria,… Read More »
President Goodluck Jonathan says Nigeria’s power industry can only grow through liberalisation: The government will sell 11 distribution companies created out of Power Holding Co. of Nigeria, the state-owned utility, and allow private companies to set up power plants using natural gas, hydro-electric dams and coal-powered stations, Jonathan said in a speech in Lagos, the… Read More »
Examining data from China – the biggest internal migration experience in human history – this column finds that migrants from the same village tend to cluster at the same destination for the same occupation. This pattern is driven by social networks within villages that reduce the moving costs for future migrants, such as the risk… Read More »
Considering that Rwanda witnessed one of the most appalling waves of barbarity in history just 16 years ago, when around 800,000 people were hacked to death in three months, the efficiency is extraordinary. So much has gone admirably right in terms of development. But a lot is going depressingly wrong in politics. Mr Kagame has… Read More »
Helon Habila is a Nigerian novelist and poet. His first novel Waiting for an Angel won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Best First Book, Africa Region) in 2003. His three choices for Nigeria are; 1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 2. The Man Died by Wole Soyinka 3. The Famished Road by Ben Okri From… Read More »
I first read of land acquisition deals in Africa about two years ago. It was between South Korea’s Daewoo and the Madagascar government, and the details included leasing the land for 99 years, mainly for farming. The produce was to be exported, but Daewoo promised to invest 6 billion dollars over a period of twenty… Read More »