Distribution of Nigerian movies on Netflix started around 2015. Alessandro Jedlowski, a scholar at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, takes a look at the global streaming giant’s intervention in the Nigerian film industry and predicts what long-term impact this could have on the worldwide marketing of Nollywood. Global streaming service Netflix set its eyes a few years ago on …

Germany, Indonesia, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Belgium, took up their seats on the UN Security Council as non-permanent members on 1 January 2019. They were elected last June to serve two-year terms on the 15-member Security Council. The other five non-permanent members on the Council are Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland. Five countries have permanent …

Lufthansa Group has appointed Adenike Macaulay as the General Manager, Sales for Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. In a statement by the airline, Macaulay would oversee all the commercial and sales activities of Lufthansa Group Airlines in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea from 1 January 2019. It noted that she was the first female and Nigerian to take the position. Macaulay started …

The Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), a Germany-based initiative promoting safe migration, has noted that criminal human trafficking networks continued to be the main driver of irregular emigration in Nigeria. In view of the thousands of Nigerians stranded in various transit and destination countries around the world where they’re exposed to human rights abuses, the MEPN has issued a brief …

More and more Germans are worried about not being able to make ends meet when they retire, a new study has shown. Rising energy costs and low interest rates are also feeding fears of financial insecurity. More than half of all Germans are afraid of being financially insecure in old age, German newspaper Die Welt has reported, citing a study …

Many new laws and legislative changes, affecting employees, the unemployed, families and retirees, came into force on 1 January 2019. The African Courier takes us through some of the most important changes that we should know. Minimum wage rises The statutory minimum wage (der gesetzliche Mindestlohn) rises from 8.84 euros to 9.19 euros on 1 January 2019. From 2020, employers …

Germany is well behind its European neighbours when it comes to coverage with high-performance mobile network technology, a study shows. And data rates could do with improvement too, reports Timothy Jones. Germany has worse LTE (4G) mobile phone network coverage than many of its European neighbours, according to a study by the Aachen-based consulting firm P3, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. …

Murder, torture, arbitrary detention, gang rape, forced labour, extortion: A recent United Nations report details the horrors suffered by migrants and refugees in Libya. The authors call on the European Union to increase rescues efforts in the Mediterranean and to facilitate the work of humanitarian ships. Julia Dumont and Monique El-Faizy report. A recent report, jointly published on 18 December …

Participants from different African countries and the diaspora gathered in Accra between 8-13 December to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first All-African People’s Conference (AAPC). The event marks the 1958 congress, which also took place in Accra and that brought together freedom fighters from all over Africa, including independent and colonised states, to strategise on how to free the …

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned the newly-built international terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The terminal is said to be the biggest in West Africa and it has the capacity to process at least 15 million passengers annually. While commissioning the facility on Thursday, the President said the federal government was committed to making Nigeria an aviation …

As Nigeria continues the battle against irregular migration, a German Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), has advised Nigerian government to focus on economic development to end the menace. Mr Vladimir Kreck, Country Representative of KAS, advised the government on Wednesday in Abuja during a workshop on “Migration- current trends part two’’. Kreck said that poverty and unemployment were identified as …

Anthony Joshua, world heavyweight boxing champion, has been presented with an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to sport. The British-Nigerian received the honour from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. The investiture marks the latest accolade Joshua has collected after he was also given an MBE in 2013. …

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that 111,558 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea from January to 16 December 2018. At least 2,217 people were reported dead. In a statement, the UN agency said that this year is the fifth straight during which the arrival of irregular migrants and refugees has topped the 100,000 threshold. Nevertheless, this …

Africa’s future will shape Europe’s destiny, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has told a joint investment forum in Vienna. Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz urged Europe to take on China’s head-start in Africa. Juncker urged European firms on Tuesday to boost their investments in Africa in a “partnership among equals,” reminding the joint European Union and Africa Union forum that Africa’s …

A research by the World Bank has found that Nigerians was the top receiver of cash from the United Kingdom in 2017. Nigeria was ranked the largest remittance recipient in sub-Saharan Africa and the sixth largest amongst lower-middle-income countries. According to the report, Nigerians living in the UK sent £3.27 million back home in 2017. “Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are …

Leaders from Africa are meeting their European counterparts at the Africa-Europe High-Level Forum in Vienna. The 2-day meeting (17-18 December), with the theme  “Taking cooperation to the digital age”, aims at assessing “how current partnerships between Africa and Europe contribute to this goal, complementing the ongoing implementation of the joint declaration of the 2017 Abidjan Summit between the African Union …

The integration of refugees in Germany has been more successful than expected, according to the head of the country’s employers’ association. “Of more than a million people who have come to Germany especially since 2015, up to 400,000 will soon have a training position or a job,” said Ingo Kramer, the President of the Confederation of German Employers (Bundesvereinigung der …

The European Parliament in Strasbourg has approved a proposal to introduce European humanitarian visas with the objective of reducing the death toll and improving the management of refugee flows. The legislative initiative was approved on Friday by 429 MEPs against 194 and 41 abstentions (absolute majority). A similar proposal had failed in November to reach the absolute majority due to …

Many new immigrants and refugees are allowed to work. The question is, are they able to work in the same profession they were trained for in their home country? Rey Azizi reports. In Germany, you need to go through a recognition procedure for certain job categories which are regulated by law. Here’s what you need to know in order to …

The electioneering campaign for Nigeria’s next general polls hots up as the vice-presidential candidates of the leading five parties square up in a televised debate today (Friday, 14 December) at 7 pm. Those to participate at the debate, organized by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group and the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, are Prof Yemi Osinbajo of the ruling APC, Peter Obi …