By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 30 May 2023 (IDN) — Bolu Ahmed Tinubu, who eked out a controversial win in the nation’s recent elections, now faces a near insurmountable challenge—to quell the violence gripping the country, wielded by various groups of assorted loyalties. “The degree of insecurity in Nigeria is unprecedented,” wrote […]
Nigeria: Chef Cooks Battle on Eve of Political Transition
By Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA, 26 May 2023 (IDN) — After weeks of being at daggers drawn over the results of the last general elections and with only days to the inauguration of a new government on May 29, one of Nigeria’s three […]
Humanitarian Aid to Africa Falls Far Short of Target
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 25 May 2023 (IDN) — At a UN sponsored high-level meeting, donors collectively pledged about $2.4 billion in “life-saving and life-sustaining assistance” to nearly 32 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia plagued by five consecutive poor rainy seasons. But the pledges—from 28 donors out of the 193 UN member […]
Poor Countries Face Collapse Over Unsustainable Borrowing
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 22 May 2023 (IDN) — African countries that borrowed billions of dollars from international creditors and private lenders face painful repayment demands that threaten their budgets for schools, power, food and fuel. After nail-biting negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced […]
Ex-Nigerian Leader Ordered To Explain Loan For Crime-Stopping Project
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 22 May 2023 (IDN) — Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari has been ordered to account for a $460 million loan from a Chinese bank to pay for a closed circuit TV (CCTV) project that failed to materialize. Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed reportedly has been unable to explain […]
African Migrants Finding Sanctuary in US Maine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — An African migrant crisis in southern Maine, the easternmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States? Newly arrived asylum seekers have been overwhelming several Maine cities, straining municipal budgets to the breaking point. Surprising to some, many of […]
How Hopes for A Sudanese Spring Failed to Take Hold
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — Since independence six decades earlier, through long stretches of military rule interrupted only by brief spells of democracy, Sudanese citizens began to dream of freedom. They had suffered enough.
Doomsday Cult in Kenya Had White Supremacist Roots
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — Cults are common in Kenya, which has a religious society. But the toll taken by the lead pastor has horrified Kenyans and governing officials who are set to prosecute Paul Mackenzie for terrorism-related offenses. Mackenzie, his wife and 16 other suspects will […]
Africa Pays High Interest Rates for Private and Chinese Loans
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN, 4 May 2023 (IDN) — African countries pay much higher interest rates to foreign bondholders and Chinese lenders than to international financial institutions such as the World Bank, says Germany’s eminent Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Besides, the hiatus in borrowing conditions has grown over the past ten years, suggesting […]
Zimbabwe Government is Muzzling Politically Conscious Artists
By Farai Shawn Matiashe HARARE, 3 May 2023 (IDN) — As a crucial election approaches, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime is in overdrive cracking down on politically conscious musicians who encourage people to register to vote and sing against corruption. The southern African nation is set to hold its general elections in August this year.