Creator
Toye Olori
Guest Author
Death rows overflow in Nigeria
About 600 people are now crammed into Nigeria’s disease-infested death rows and the number is certain to rise with a justice system that critics say has been resisting reform…
Should Africa consume more of its own cocoa?
It’s certainly a logical suggestion: in an effort to make cocoa-producing countries in Africa less dependent on consumers abroad, why not increase domestic consumption of cocoa…
Nigeria’s season of ethnic discontent
The release and re-arrest of members of a Yoruba organisation this week have marked the latest chapter in Nigeria’s bid to contain ethnic unrest in various parts of the country.…
Nigeria launches school feeding scheme
A government programme to provide primary-school children with free lunches has been launched in Nigeria, to encourage parents to educate their children — and to ensure that…
Nigeria faces census conundrum
More than a decade after its last headcount, Nigeria is preparing to conduct the country’s fifth census this year. However, religion and ethnicity — long the bane of national…
Journalism school drops HIV-positive student
The debate around a journalism school in Lagos that has withdrawn the admission letter of a new student after learning that he is living with HIV does not seem to go away.…
Nigerian govt seeks to stop child hawking
It’s a phenomenon that is now a permanent feature of the urban landscape in Nigeria: children hawking goods on the streets. A wide-ranging Child Rights Bill that was signed by…
‘Politicians and criminals don’t register weapons’
Nigeria’s police are cracking down on illegal firearms that, they say, are threatening Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria’s police chief issued an order to crackdown on the…
Ruling Nigerian party consolidates power
The ruling People’s Democratic Party in Nigeria has won local elections in almost all the 31 states where polls were held this weekend — even as election-related violence claimed…
Little excitement over elections in Nigeria
Low voter turnout, boycotts and a lack of ballot papers in various wards have marred local government elections in Nigeria, which took place on Saturday in 31 of the country’s 36…
Nigerian cocoa farmers escape the middle man
The prospects for cocoa farmers in West Africa have not appeared rosy in recent years, what with declining cocoa prices and reports of exploitive labour practices on their…
Nigerian police are still on the take
In the past two years, 800 policemen in Nigeria have been dismissed for extortion and another 65 have found themselves in court. But, the arrests and dismissals do not appear to…
Nigerian pensioners beg to make ends meet
While African culture may venerate the aged, the continent’s pensioners don’t always find themselves living out a peaceful retirement. This is nowhere more true than in Nigeria,…
Compensation dispute haunts blast anniversary
Relatives of the more than 1 000 people who died during the 2002 explosions at a military barracks in Lagos, Nigeria, have boycotted a ceremony to commemorate the event on…
Nigerians stockpile as fuel strike looms
A court of appeal in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, has ordered the Nigeria Labour Congress to suspend a proposed strike that had been scheduled to start on Wednesday. It has also…