Vol 65 No 4 | NIGERIA How the poor help the rich 15th February 2024 Top officials are accused of raiding a state-funded programme meant to offer desperately needed relief for struggling communities The detention of former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq on 2 January on charges related to alleged fraud over US$38 million of public funds has led to a trail of d...
Vol 65 No 4 | GHANA A Valentine's Day reshuffle 15th February 2024 Embattled Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, 65, was removed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on 14 February in a reshuffle involving another 11 ministers and 10 deputy minis...
Vol 65 No 4 | NIGERIA UN breaks with scandal-hit pollution agency 12th February 2024 Theft of oil spill clean-up funds in Ogoniland is set to continue as the UN Environment Programme cuts ties with HYPREP Activists and environmentalists looking for a policy change on the troubled US$1 billion clean-up project in the Niger Delta by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government have been d...
Vol 65 No 4 | NIGERIAUNITED STATESISRAEL Kanu's lobbyists for Biafra step up campaign 9th February 2024 The separatist leader refused to appear in court in Abuja on 8 February but has more wealthy supporters in Washington DC The campaign for a 'Jewish Autonomous Region in Biafra' is trying to boost its profile after hiring new lobbyists in the United States. Its backers hope to rekindle the political a...
Vol 65 No 3 | NIGERIA Shock therapy keeps the people waiting 1st February 2024 Dollar-rich investors have reacted to President Tinubu's radical reforms by rushing to the door President Bola Tinubu's great gamble that shock therapy – ending subsidies and devaluing the naira – would bring back foreign capital and stabilise state finances isn't...
Vol 65 No 3 | GHANA Cash flows in but debt talks drag on 1st February 2024 The treasury has received $600 million in vital IMF funds but doubts persist on a deal with creditors before election campaigning starts At the start of a crucial election year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's embattled government has some reasons to be cheerful following confirmation on 12 January by the Mi...
Vol 65 No 3 | SENEGAL A crowded field 1st February 2024 Now definitively excluded from the presidential race, the imprisoned Ousmane Sonko waits to learn whether his stand-in, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, will be allowed out of jail to campai...
Vol 65 No 3 | NIGERIASIERRA LEONEECOWAS Anatomy of a failed coup in Freetown 29th January 2024 A band of gunmen hoped to become Africa's newest junta and couldn't muster support, but questions about the role of ex-President Koroma abound Ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma's release for 'medical treatment' in Nigeria and the backroom deal that brought it about has enraged many of President Julius Maada Bio's supporters....
Vol 65 No 3 | NIGERIA Shell leads oil majors' exit from the Niger Delta 26th January 2024 Companies accused of under-investment – arrangements on financing and liability for pollution may be contested When the British oil major Shell announced on 16 January that it would be selling its interests in 18 oil licences in shallow water and onshore Niger Delta it raised awkward questi...
Vol 65 No 2 | GHANA Ofori-Atta claims big win 18th January 2024 Confirmation on 17 January of a deal between Ghana and its official bilateral creditors (Paris Club and China) to restructure payments owed on US$5.4 billion of debt, is a politica...