Nigeria plans to close the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in the capital Abuja for six weeks from 8 March to repair its runway, the aviation ministry said on Tuesday, 3 January, pushing the move back later than previously scheduled. No reason was given for the change of date. The closure is to allow extensive runway repairs which will last for six …

More details have been released about the man all Europe’s police are now looking for. It appears the main suspect in the Berlin truck attack was previously known to German police, and a 100,000 euro reward is being offered for his capture. He has been identified as Tunisian-born 24-year-old Anis Amri, who had previously served four years in an Italian …

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, has announced on Tuesday that the federal government had instructed the Central Bank to eliminate currency black market, where foreign currencies fetch more naira than the official rate. “The CBN has promised to do something by putting a system in place to eliminate the black market because it’s damaging the economy,” Ms Adeosun told a …

The recorded presence of Africans in the territory of today’s Germany can be traced back to the 13th century, when it was fashionable for royal as well as other wealthy households to keep Africans as court servants.  Later waves of Africans from Germany’s colonies – Togo, Cameroon, Southwest Africa (now Namibia) and Tanzania – came between the late 1890s and …

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani reports on the trafficking of young women from Nigeria to Italy which, according to international migration organisations, has significantly increased in the past two years. The report, sponsored by Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change, exposes the intricacies of the sex trade. EDO, …

Berlin-based daily newspaper TAZ claims that European industrial and arms companies will be among the beneficiaries of plans to grant financial aid to African countries that  keep migrants away from Europe, take back failed asylum-seekers and introduce biometric controls at their borders. “The funds which African countries have been promised to help them fight migration will find their way, first …

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has declared President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for the next presidential election in 2018. By then he will be aged 94. His supporters broke into thunderous applause and chanted “tongai, tongai baba” [rule, rule father] as the Zanu-PF annual conference nominated Mugabe on Saturday in the south-eastern town of Masvingo . Mugabe has been in …

Lufthansa said on Thursday it was exercising an option to buy the remaining 55 per cent of Brussels Airlines for 2.6 million euros ($2.7 million), and integrate it as a subsidiary of Eurowings, in a move seen to further strengthen the budget carrier’s market position. The purchase was previously approved last September by the Board of Lufthansa Group. The German …

An extra-ordinary meeting of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Worldwide, consisting of its chapters in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, took place on 4 December. The meeting evaluated the current efforts to establish a Diaspora Commission and offers its views on this development. Below is the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting: ——————————————– Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation Continues …

West African leaders under the auspices of the regional ECOWAS have jointly called on Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh to step when his term of office expires in January. Meeting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Saturday, the eleven presidents present at the body’s 50th ordinary session called on Jammeh to accept the results and refrain from compromising a peaceful handover of …

The news of Delali Afiwoa Assigbley’s death in a horrific manner went round the world. It’s a death that would shake the most hard-hearted human being. On Wednesday, 7 December Delali’s husband, Koffi W., poured petrol on her in the streets of Kronshagen, near the northern German city of Kiel, and set her ablaze. Before the fire could be put …

New UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday announced the appointment of Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed as Deputy Secretary-General. “I am pleased to announce that I will be appointing Ms Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria as my Deputy Secretary-General, and Ms Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil as my Chef De Cabinet. I also intend to create the position of Special Advisor …

The study, covering 14 federal ministries, the federal armed forces and eight federal agencies, showed that 14.8 per cent of all public servants are of migrant origin. A similar study conducted in 2013 discovered that only 6.7 per cent of federal employees had a migration background.

A high-powered diplomatic move to resolve the gathering crisis in The Gambia seems to have suffered a setback. A delegation of West African leaders failed to convince Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on Tuesday to hand over power to opposition leader, Adama Barrow, who defeated him at the presidential election held on 1 December. The leaders – Presidents Muhammadu Buhari of …

The refugee crisis has made integration in Germany more difficult. And Syrian refugees are the least of the country’s problems, reveals the new Integration Report of the Federal Integration Commissioner. The number of people arriving in Germany from other countries has increased in recent years. More than two million people came to Germany in 2015, and nearly one million left …

James Shepherd, Managing Director, Aggreko Africa, on how his company is partnering with the government of Zimbabwe to solve the country’s energy crisis caused by extended drought in the region. There are parts of Zimbabwe where consistent drought is putting intolerable pressure on local communities. Indeed, many rural areas are in difficulty thanks to the impact of the extreme weather, …

Reuters – The European Union, under an agreement published on Monday, will provide funds to Mali to help it create jobs and strengthen border management in return for the African country’s aid in fighting people smugglers and accepting deportees from Europe. The Mali agreement comes as the EU is stepping up migration collaboration with countries of origin and transit in …

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was born and raised in Ga-Maami (Accra Central) and in the Nima area of Accra. His father’s residence, Betty House at Korle Wokon in Accra, was effectively the headquarters of the country’s first political party, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), after it was formed at Saltpond on 4 August 1947. Three of the ‘Big Six’ …

Ghanaians have elected Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the candidate of the main opposition party, New Patriotic Party (NPP), as their new president. Akufo-Addo, 72, who ran for the office for the third time, comfortably edged out incumbent president, John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) by almost 10 points. The Electoral Commission of Ghana (ECG) tweeted late on Friday, …

Passers-by describe the scene as horrific as an African man poured petrol on his wife in broad daylight in the northern German town of Kronshagen, near Kiel on Wednesday. The Kieler Nachrichten, a daily newspaper, reports that the man poured fuel over his wife, both originally from Togo, as she left a clinic in the town before setting her ablaze. …