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Documenting the scene will help protect your legal rights and make it easier to claim compensation Seeing a doctor, even for minor injuries, is vital for maintaining a record of the accident Be prepared for an accident by keeping recording equipment in your car, an expert warns  Getting caught up in a car accident can be a traumatic experience. It’s …

Wole Soyinka, the literary giant and human rights icon, turns 90 on 13 July. Considering the gamut of his creative work as a dramatist, poet, novelist, essayist, memoirist and wordsmith, the emeritus professor of comparative literature could arguably be described as Africa’s greatest man of letters ever. In 1986, Soyinka became the first African to receive the Nobel Prize in …

At the heart of Wole Soyinka’s whole corpus of work is man, mankind with all his intelligence and stupidity, writes Atim Ani*. The Nobel laureate pictures man, an African, in his constant struggle of adjustment to his changing environment, she posits in this essay on the significance of Soyinka’s body of work. Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature …

For a continent whose merits have been overshadowed by wars, natural disasters, poverty and human displacements, the Nobel Prize for literature awarded to the Nigerian Wole Soyinka in 1986 must have come as a shock to those audiences with little knowledge of the presence of a wealth of contemporary African literatures. This shock could only be the result of years …

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka turns 90 on 13 July. Femi Awoniyi and Michael Nnaji look at the life of the literary giant as a political and rights activist in the service of humanity. Born Oluwole Akinwande Soyinka on 13 July 1934 in Abeokuta, south-western Nigeria, this truly great man of many parts is often wrongly reduced to the Nobel Prize …

The Africa Centre London has rolled out an elaborate programme to celebrate the life of Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel laureate in Literature (1986), to mark the Nigerian writer’s 90th birthday. From Friday, July 19 to Saturday, July 27, The Africa Centre will come alive with exhibitions, roundtables, film screenings, live music performances and poetry recitals to celebrate the …

In a recent study, the Netherlands emerged as Europe’s most active online nation. SEO agency Digital Climax analysed data from Eurostat to compare the percentages of individuals engaged in six selected categories of online activity across each country in Europe. The data was then used to create an overall ‘Online Activity Score’ out of ten, for each European country.  The …

Around 30 per cent of the population have a migration background, according to the new microcensus for 2023 published by the Federal Statistical Office. A person has a migration background if they themselves or at least one of their parents were not born with German citizenship. Specifically, this definition includes immigrant and non-immigrant foreigners, immigrant and non-immigrant naturalised citizens, late …

Furaha Kensmil explains why she feels like a foreigner in both Suriname, where she was born, and the Netherlands, where she has lived most of her life. Furaha delves into the complexities of the identity of the people of African descent in the Netherlands, which prides itself as a colour-blind nation. I find it difficult to call myself Dutch. The …

Most often, media reports on immigrant communities in Europe focus on problems of residency status, accommodation, integration, poverty and crime. And the “newness” of it all. Little Lagos, however, is an established community with an impressive track record of achievement among its inhabitants. Nigerian school children in London perform well in academic exams and the British Nigerians boast a wide selection of business, sport, education and artistic successes, including Shirley Bassey, Sade and Ben Okri.

An EU observer mission witnessed the recent presidential election in Senegal. Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament who was a member of the mission, writes on what they witnessed in Senegal and her views on the country’s democracy ____________________ Since last year, Senegal has been in the international spotlight. With the 2024 presidential vote, it reveals to Africa …

It is quite an achievement itself that OUR ROOTS has been a Black history cartoon column featured series for 35 years. It was first published in the UK’s Voice newspaper. The history of Black people must be illustrated and that is what Tayo Fatunla (whose artistic name is TAYO) has been doing through his journalistic drawings after discovering the need …

Travelling should be an opportunity to learn. This is why a new tour operator has developed a unique concept for people interested in travelling to Africa. Farafina Travels, an offshoot of the think tank Farafina Institute, would like travellers to really get to know the continent through its peoples, its cultures, its history, its landscape, its animals etc. The concept …

Official figures reveal that the EU received more than 1.14 million asylum applications in 2023, the highest number since 2016. Far-right parties could capitalize on the influx in June’s EU elections. Jack Parrock reports More than 1.14 million people applied for asylum in the EU in 2023, according to annual figures released by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA). …

According to a judgement of the Lower Saxony-Bremen State Social Court, recipients of basic social security benefits (Grundsicherung) must be able to prove their place of residence to the authorities in cases of doubt. The burden of proof lies with them and not with the Jobcenter, the court ruled in the case of a Nigerian couple who were registered in …

Faced with an aging population and more people living alone, the German government plans to introduce a new legal mechanism to help people in non-romantic relationships to take responsibility for one another. By Helen Whittle The way that people in Germany live, love, parent and age is changing. But the question of who and how to take care of one …

In a world where Nigerian emigration is commonly referred to as ‘japa,’ signifying a desperate escape from a challenging environment, Olusegun and Oyetola Akande, the visionary founders of Sami’s Online African Foods, are breaking stereotypes and paving the way for a new narrative. This enterprising couple have not only travelled abroad but have also made a remarkable impact by establishing …

An EU observer mission witnessed the recent presidential election in Liberia. Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament who was a member of the mission, writes about what they witnessed in Liberia and her views on the future of the country ____________________ The change of government took place in accordance with democratic principles and the laws in force in …

On Thursday evening (30 November 2023), the Vice-President of the German Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, presented the German Africa Award 2023 to the 1st National Women’s Convention for Peace in Cameroon at the Allianz Forum in Berlin. The award, which was awarded to a collective for the first time in 30 years, recognises the Women’s Peace Platform’s pioneering work in promoting …

Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, MEP: “However, some Member States of the European Union are reluctant to legislate, as well as to introduce, for example, the notion of consent. Yes, it’s yes and No, it’s no! It shouldn’t be complicated to understand”/Photo: © Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana Here’s the message of Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Member of the European Parliament representing Germany on the …