Tag Archives: Nigeria

Elder’s Corner: A documentary about Nigeria’s musical icons

This is a synopsis: Elder’s Corner is musical journey through pivotal moments in the colorful history of Nigeria as told through the lives and careers of the nations foremost music legends. It is a story about the eroding effects of colonialism, bitter ethnic clashes, politics, oil, power, money and their combined effects on a nation… Read More »

On the case of disappearing penises

A couple of weekends ago we hosted a friend who had just returned from Nigeria. She mentioned that penises were currently being ‘disappeared’ in the country. We smiled, we laughed, and I told the story of how I first learnt about disappearing penises. Like a good, self-respecting, PhD-holding anthropologist, I concluded by insisting that I… Read More »

Nigeria’s CBN to shift about 10 percent of FX reserves from dollar to RMB

From Reuters: Nigeria’s central bank plans to diversify its $33 billion in foreign exchange reserves away from the dollar by switching a tenth of the stockpile into yuan, underlining the momentum behind China’s drive to internationalise its currency. “We are looking at anything to start with from 5 to 10 percent of our reserves,” central… Read More »

Nigerian bragging right of the day

According to the latest dispatch of cables by wikileaks, the Nigerian envoy told US officials that he was shocked that Zimbabweans spent their time in queues without so much as batting an eyelid. “They line up for hours to get a few dollars from their bank accounts,” Adenyaju said. “Then they go home and do… Read More »

Aljazeera focuses on Nigeria

Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the returning finance minister and new economy Czar (couldn’t resist that one) starts talking at about 4:30. She talks about agriculture, manufacturing, job creation and even Nollywood. I don’t yet have an opinion on her and her new team  –  it is much too early – but in a few months, one should… Read More »

The Economist reviews Teju Cole’s Open City

There are three reasons why the book is so compelling, and the quality of translation will be vital if this success is to continue in other languages. In the precision with which Mr Cole chooses words or phrases he is not unlike Gustave Flaubert, who sometimes took a week to write a single paragraph. Thus… Read More »

Friday links

1. Another one strikes black gold (trying desperately to resist using the line from Queen’s popular song) 2. Can stocks be safer than bonds (strange times, right?) 3. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, formerly of World Bank, then of Nigeria’s finance ministry, then of World Bank, returns to take charge of Nigeria’s economy 4.  Commentary on Islamic finance… Read More »