In the past couple of weeks since the passing of Chadian leader Idriss Déby, the country has become a subject of local and international discourse unlike anything people remember of the West African nation in recent decades. The discussions center…
Climate change is heating up the terrorist conflict in Africa’s Sahel region
In Africa’s Sahel region — the current hotbed of terrorist violence — climate change has become a leading cause of worsening conditions. Although Nigeria is not new to security challenges, some commentators in the country recently have linked the worrying…
U.S. agency calls for more religious freedom in Nigeria
Less than three months after being designated a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department over its religious record, Nigeria has again became the focus of another U.S. agency — the Commission on International Religious Freedom. A virtual…
Three years later, Leah Sharibu is still held captive, reportedly for refusing to renounce her faith
In the last three years since a group of Boko Haram terrorists stormed and kidnapped 109 students from Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, in northeast Nigeria, much has changed except one thing: Only one of…
How the Ebola experience helped the African continent’s fight against COVID-19
How is it that Nigeria, a country of about 200 million people, has experienced only 1,449 deaths from COVID-19, while the United States, a country of 331 million, has experienced 400,000 deaths? Ask some Nigerians and, because the country is…
Trump’s parting gift echos his immigration policies toward Africa
Africans look with dismay on the parting gift U.S. President Donald Trump has given them: On the last day of 2020, Trump extended the U.S. government’s ban on green cards and work visas, which his administration imposed in April last…
In Nigeria, the politics of religion and the search for peace are never-ending
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has in recent weeks attracted global attention for a series of mind-boggling, alarming crimes: At least 76 farmers were beheaded by the terrorist group Boko Haram in a farm in Zabarmari, Borno State, in late…
Blasphemy laws put Nigeria in the spotlight again — with a musician and a 13-year-old sentenced
Editor’s note: Last week, the United States House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution condemning global apostasy, heresy and blasphemy laws. The story that follows illustrates how this concern applies to Nigeria, which has a secular government. It is probably…
Boko Haram is still plaguing Nigeria claiming to do God’s work
It’s a circus many are already long familiar with. Most times when the Nigerian Army comes out with a strong statement on Boko Haram, the terrorist group in northern Nigeria, or its leader, Abubakar Shekau, something usually happens to repudiate…