Special

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has nominated the country’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the position of director-general of the World Trade Organisation. NAN reported on Thursday that Buhari withdrew the candidacy of Yonov Agah, Nigeria’s permanent representative to WTO, for the same position. The election is scheduled to hold in Geneva, Switzerland in 2021 for a four-year term that …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says governing parties have agreed on a €130 billion stimulus package to help revive the virus-hit economy. Under the wide-ranging measures, value-added tax will be temporarily slashed. Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that Germany was set to plow 130 billion euros ($146 billion) into rebooting an economy severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The measures include …

The controversy surrounding accusations of malpractices against the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, seems to have been resolved for now on Thursday. Some officials of the Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire-based Bank had accused Dr Adesina of lack of respect of internal rules and regulations in recruitment, citing numerous cases of nepotism and favouritism. The AfDB’s Ethics …

Since George Floyd was killed by a policeman on 25 May in the city of Minneapolis, people across the United States have been protesting anti-Black racism and police violence. In solidarity, members of the Black community in Germany will rally nationwide on Saturday to register their protest against racism not only in the US, but also in Germany and globally.

The Bank’s investments have benefited millions of Africans through its 10-year strategy which it began implementing from 2013 ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, June 3, 2020/ — For the past five decades, the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has been at the forefront of driving Africa’s economic transformation, leveraging its diverse resources and unique know-how as an indigenous development finance institution. The …

Young professionals from developing countries can apply for a scholarship to study in Germany. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, in German) supports postgraduate studies and training in a variety of subjects, including media studies. Institutions that offer media studies include Leipzig University, Bauhaus University Weimar and Cologne University of Applied Sciences. Candidates must have completed their college degree in …

Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), is at the centre of a brewing storm.  Adesina, a former Nigerian agriculture minister, is due for re-election for a second term of 5 years at the helm of Africa’s leading development finance institution. The AfDB’s mission is to fight poverty and improve living conditions on the continent through promoting …

The organisers of the first online anti-Black racism demonstration in Germany have called on people of African descent in the country to make their resistance to racism and discrimination more visible. Speaking on Saturday during the digital protest action, tagged ‘Racism in the Era of Coronavirus’ and anchored on YouTube, the moderators said only in making cases of discrimination more …

Black and anti-racism organisations will on 23 May hold an online demonstration against the word “neger” (subsequently referred to as N-word in this report). The event, titled “Rassismus in Zeiten von Corona” (Racism in the Era of Corona), is the continuation of the nation-wide protest movement to draw attention to the still prevalent use of the denigrating word to describe people …

In January, unknown assailants shot at the office of Senegalese-born German politician Karamba Diaby. Germany was shocked by the brazen attack. But Afro-German politicians are otherwise rarely in the spotlight. Daniel Pelz of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana is used to being the first. The first Afro-German city councillor. The first Afro-German member of the European Parliament. She was …

Sub-Sahara African countries will lose about $200bn in incomes by the end of 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The development is as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is pulling the global economy towards recession. IMF had already, in its latest Regional Economic Outlook, projected that the economies of Sub-Saharan African countries would contract by 1.6 …

Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek wants to help students with emergency loans through the corona crisis. Two thirds of students work alongside their studies; for foreign students it is about three quarters. Many of them have lost their jobs as a result of the current corona pandemic. This presents many with financial constraints. From 8 May, students can apply for …

Global remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown, the World Bank has predicted. “The projected fall, which would be the sharpest decline in recent history, is largely due to a fall in the wages and employment of migrant workers, who tend to be …

There is an ongoing innovative project, sponsored by the German government, to promote micro and small businesses in Africa. WIDU, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the development agency GIZ, leverages diaspora remittances for the creation of jobs and better economic prospects in Africa. It’s currently being implemented in Ghana and …

The Jack Ma Foundation has opened the application process for its Africa’s Business Heroes competition. Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) is organized by the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, established in 2019 to cultivate and empower young African entrepreneurs by giving equal opportunities to those who harnessed the power of small businesses and technologies. Through its associated activities and training, business leaders …

Ein Niederbayer im Senegal. Mein Leben zwischen zwei Welten (A Lower Bavarian in Senegal. My life between two worlds) is the story of Germany’s first  TV star of African descendant and former member of the federal parliament, from his childhood in a village in Lower Bavaria to national prominence. Charles Mohamed Huber, renowned for having been the first Black actor …

Afrolynk is an Impact Venture that supports innovation, connects and accelerates, together with start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists, SMEs, cooperation and organizations that are connected to the EU-African market. As part of the Accelerate pillar of the operations, it has partnered with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to carry out the WIDU project in Ghana. The WIDU Platform is …

Sierra Leone will look to the African Development Bank to stimulate agribusiness development in the country with a focus on rice production, President Maada Bio told a visiting delegation led by its president, Akinwumi Adesina. Adesina began a two-day visit to Sierra Leone on Wednesday, during which he held meetings to discuss curbing malnutrition, creating skills and jobs for young …

African Diasporas is a scholarly examination of the Afro-German literature through a comparison with African-American literature and the role it has played in the creation of a Black community in Germany. Literature has been the chief tool of people of African descent in Germany in their efforts to reclaim their African heritage and carve an identity for themselves. Through a …

Written by actress, model and TV presenter Dayan Kodua, the first woman of African descent to win a state beauty contest in Germany, this book is on Black success stories in the country. Melanie Scheuenstuhl reviews the pictorial band of 25 personalities – politicians, designers, physicians, artists, chefs, lawyers, policemen and bus drivers, who tell their very personal stories of …