_GERMANY SLIDER

There are many legal changes entering into effect in August, including new rules for holiday returnees and a controversial ID card requirement. There is also good news for low-income families and all those who are obliged to file a tax return. The African Courier summarises what will be important for you to know. ——– Compulsory testing for travellers returning to …

Nigerians from across the length and breadth of Germany will gather in Hamburg on Saturday, 31 July to bid farewell to Oguchi Unachukwu, who was shot in May while he was visiting his homeland. Unachukwu, a very active member of several Nigerian organisations in Hamburg, was shot by a yet to be identified officer of the Nigerian Airforce on 31 …

As Germany comes to grips with the vast devastation and loss of life caused by the worst floods in decades, the government has offered more than €300 million in aid including help for infrastructure and small businesses. Speaking to newspaper Bild am Sonntag, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he would propose a package of immediate aid at a cabinet meeting …

Very soon, digital fingerprinting will be mandatory in German ID cards. The question is: Will it make the cards more secure? Or is it an invasive threat to our freedom? Nina Werkhäuser and Esther Felden of DW examine the issue in this special report —— “It was a really creepy feeling,” says data protection activist Leena Simon, describing the moment …

Every month there are new laws and other legal changes. July 2021 is no different. Whether minimum wage increase, single-use plastic ban, compulsory measles vaccination or digital Covid-19 vaccination card: We have all the relevant changes at a glance! ——- Statutory minimum wage increases From July 2021, the minimum wage will increase by 10 cents from 9.50 euros to 9.60 …

The German chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) has elected a new executive committee. The election was part of the body’s annual general meeting, which took place virtually on Saturday, 26 June. Femi Awoniyi was elected unopposed to lead the NIDO Germany as President for the next two years at the event. He replaced Dr RosaLyn Dressman who …

A TV production about the death of the African Oury Jalloh in a Dessau police cell over 17 years ago has been awarded the German Podcast Prize 2021 for “Best Journalistic Performance”. The production, by the public broadcaster WDR and entitled Oury Jalloh und die Toten des Polizeireviers Dessau (“Oury Jalloh and the dead of the Dessau police station”), received …

The Nigerian community is in shock over the gruesome, cold-blooded killing of Hamburg-based Oguchi Unachukwu while visiting his home country. According to Nigerian press reports and the accounts of his relations in Nigeria, Mr Unachukwu was shot by a soldier in Owerri, Imo State, on Monday. The Nigerian, who was on his way to the Owerri airport to catch his …

The number of naturalisations in Germany declined significantly last year. Around 109,900 foreigners took German citizenship in 2020, as the Federal Statistical Office announced in Wiesbaden recently. That is a decline of 19,000 cases (minus 19 per cent). The decline is to a large extent due to the reduced naturalisation of Britons. At the same time, the number of Syrians …

News of the historic agreement between the governments of Germany and Namibia on the genocide committed by German colonial troops against the people of the African country at the beginning of the 20th century broke on Friday (28 May). It was the culmination of more than six years of talks between Berlin and Windhoek. German imperial troops killed tens of …

Easier child access to German citizenship has been floated by integration ministers of Germany’s 16 states. But the idea is likely to face opposition from federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. Children born to foreigners living in Germany should be granted faster access by law to German citizenship, integration ministers from Germany’s 16 states have urged in a majority appeal Meeting …

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been awarded the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma for her advocacy against antiziganism. “We must outlaw antiziganism just as we outlaw anti-Semitism,” Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, said in his address at a ceremony which took place in Mannheim on Wednesday. He pointed to the …

The so-called rent cap has been in force in Berlin for more than a year. Now the Federal Constitutional Court Bundesverfassungsgericht has overturned the controversial law causing apprehensions for tenants in Germany’s biggest city The Federal Constitutional Court has declared Berlin’s rent cap null and void. According to the decision of the Karlsruhe-based highest court on constitutional matters, Berlin was …

ZDF will broadcast the new documentary film König Bansah und seine Tochter (King Bansah and his daughter) on 29 March. The film takes viewers to Ludwigshafen, where Togbui Ngoryifia Kosi Olatidoye Céphas Bansah lives and runs a car repair workshop, and on a journey to Africa, where he’s a chief who is active in the development of his community. König …

Chancellor Angela Merkel and state and civic leaders have finalised a plan to improve the integration of immigrants into society, the education system and the job market. It outlines a road map for the coming decade. Kathleen Schuster/DW reports Getting a job might have been once been considered enough to be successfully integrated into society as a foreigner. For Germany, …

Follow the rules, work with us, His Excellency Thomas Amolo appeals to Kenyans in Germany The African Courier interviewed Kenya’s new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Germany, His Excellency Thomas Boniface Amolo, after he presented his Letter of Credence to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Thursday, 11 March. In the exclusive chat, Ambassador Amolo, who is also concurrently accredited …

Germany’s population of African descent is estimated at over a million. A big community which needs to communicate with itself as well as with others. Sam Atsu Nove, who died on 9 March 2020, was the pioneer networker of the Black community in Germany.His observation of the difficulties of Africans navigating their community challenged the communications specialist to publish the …

His Excellency Thomas Boniface Amolo of Kenya has presented his Letter of Credence to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, marking the beginning of his ambassadorship in Germany. Accompanied by his wife, Mrs Iris Matlhodi Kekana-Amolo, Ambassador Amolo handed over his credentials at a ceremony which took place at the Schloss Bellevue, the seat of the German presidency, on Thursday (11 March). …

“We the Yoruba diaspora living in Germany, had long been watching and monitoring with great concern, the onslaught on lives, properties and existence of our families in the whole of Yorubaland. The onslaught continued unabated with more killings, raping, maiming and destruction of livelihood of our people, perpetuated by Fulani herdsmen and bandits."

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Premiers of the 16 federal states decided on Wednesday (3 March) to extend the shutdown until 28 March. In the same breadth, a plan for the easing of the restrictions was announced. “The daily reporting figures show that the efforts of the last few months have paid off and lower incidences have been achieved. This …