January, 2019

• 8 January

  Rwanda enforces ban on skin lightening products countrywide

  The Rwandan government has begun enforcing a ban on cosmetics products used for lightening or “bleaching” skin. The creams are being removed from shelves across the country as the government cracks down on the sale of the harmful cosmetic product. Many observers however fear that the ban in Rwanda may encourage women to buy unregulated products which could put their …

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• 8 January

  Nigerian-born councillor sworn into office for a third term in Belgian city

  With the traditional words “I swear to uphold the obligations of my office” which he has become familiar with over the past 13 years, Collins Nweke, a Nigerian-born Belgian politician swore an Oath of Office for a third term on Tuesday 2 January 2019 at the Ostend City Council Belgium. Having made history as the first non-Belgian-born person to occupy …

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• 7 January

  Nigeria’s 2019 Presidential Election: 5 Things You Should Know

  Nigeria will vote on 16 February in the country’s fifth presidential election since the restoration of democracy in 1999. Olalekan Waheed Adigun, the author of the fast-selling book Witnessing The Change, analyses the factors that will decide the crucial election, mainly a battle between  incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling APC and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the main …

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• 7 January

  New in Switzerland! Renewal of residence permit now conditional on integration performance

  Various new or tweaked Swiss laws, governing a range of issues from foreigners to online shopping, entered into force on 1 January. One of them affects the Foreigner’s law. Foreigners living in Switzerland now have to meet certain criteria of good behaviour, for example respect for public security and order and constitutional values, before their residence permits are granted or …

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• 7 January

  Coup against President Ali Bongo of Gabon fails

  Gabon’s government has announced that a group of soldiers who seized the national radio station in an apparent coup attempt early on Monday have been arrested. The “situation is under control”, government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told Radio France Internationale (RFI), just hours after the soldiers announced they were “restoring democracy” in a message on state radio. Four of the five …

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• 7 January

  Flight operations commence at Abuja airport’s new terminal

  The newly inaugurated international terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, has officially been opened for operations as Asky Airlines began operations at the terminal on Sunday (6 January). Asky Airlines’ B737-700 aircraft with flight number ET-AVP, which landed at the airport at 3:30 pm from Lomé in Togo, had 91 persons on board comprising 85 passengers and six …

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• 7 January

  Book: How colonisation drives today’s African migration to Europe

  As I write this article, 49 migrants, mostly Africans, are stranded at sea. They had been rescued in the Mediterranean by the humanitarian organisation Sea Watch about two weeks ago but no European country is ready to allow the migrants to disembark at its port. Last year, about 112,000 migrants found their way irregularly through the Mediterranean to Europe while …

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• 4 January

  Israel gives African migrants 90 days to leave or be jailed

  The Israeli government has issued a notice for thousands of African migrants to leave the country or face imprisonment. Rights group kick against controversial plan. Israel will force tens of thousands of African migrants to leave over the next three months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday. Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that the Israeli government will …

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• 4 January

  Deportation laws in Germany: What you need to know

  German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is calling for harsher deportation laws after asylum-seekers attacked pedestrians in Bavaria. So far, who gets deported – and who makes that call –  is a complex matter. Carla Bleiker reports. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said he would send proposals to the government aimed at changing German deportation laws in an effort to …

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• 4 January

  Can Netflix lift Nollywood to new global heights?

  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 …

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