The Norman Conquest and the Birth of Modern English Power Decides What Gets Written FOLLOWING 1066, written English nearly vanished—not because people stopped speaking it, but because it stopped mattering to those who wrote history. French and Latin monopolized authority. English lived orally, transmitted by memory, work, and family. This imbalance shaped what survived in […]
Beyond Tolerance: Southern Africa’s Approach to Religious Diversity A Peaceful Coexistence LIVING in Southern Africa reveals an unexpected reality about religion in the region. Unlike much of Europe, where religious identity often divides and politicizes societies, Southern Africa presents a model of religious coexistence that is both natural and profound. Countries such as Zambia, Malawi, […]
By OBIOMA TORI THE end of the year brings prosperity for commerce—and peril for banks. Nigeria’s financial institutions are once again bracing for a familiar pattern: a spike in digital fraud driven by the surge in electronic payments that accompanies festive spending. Criminal networks exploit this predictable cycle, timing attacks for moments of peak activity […]
By FATIMA HUSSAINI White Saviourism Without Intent: How Aid Culture Reproduces Inequality The Road to Africa Is Often Paved with Good Intentions FEW NGO workers arrive in Africa intending harm. Many are motivated by deep ethical commitments shaped by years of study and activism. Yet lived experience across multiple African countries shows that intentions alone […]
By AMINA USMAN ABDULRAHMAN Morning in a War Zone Childhood AT dawn in the outskirts of Zurmi, Zamfara State, 13-year-old Mubarak performs duties far heavier than his age. He ties his younger brother’s worn slippers, scanning the horizon for danger. The low hum of a motorcycle still freezes him in place—a sound etched into memory […]
DETTY December is no longer a cultural accident. It is a system—deliberate, monetised, and deeply embedded in Nigeria’s social fabric. Each December, the country enters a high-stakes cycle of celebration that blends entertainment, economics and identity into a single national moment. The phrase captures the intensity of the season: loud music, packed streets, […]
By HALIMA TAKWAS How broken primary healthcare, poverty, and silence are condemning rural women to lives of pain An investigative editorial from rural Niger State A life undone by childbirth WHEN Sheituna Saani speaks about her condition, her voice barely rises above a whisper. Not because she […]
By IGBINAZAKA OGIESUYI OGIAMIEN PRINCESS Igwiyisi, the trailblazing first daughter of Oba Eweka II, occupies a complicated and often overlooked chapter in Benin’s royal history. Upon the passing of their father in 1933, she challenged the traditional succession order, entering into a fierce dispute with her younger brother, the future Oba Akenzua II. Her demand was […]
By NCHONGANYI AKEBULAN FOR centuries, the transatlantic slave trade has been framed through a convenient distortion: “Africans sold Africans.” This oversimplified refrain has endured because it shifts responsibility, absolves European powers, and obstructs honest historical accountability. But archival evidence, court records, missionary correspondence, and early diplomatic letters reveal a very different story—one rooted in systemic manipulation, […]
HISTORY often remembers the Aro-Ibibio War as a clash of kingdoms. But beneath the surface lies a far more intricate story—one of political engineering, contested legitimacy, foreign intervention, and the strategic creation of an entirely new power structure in southeastern Nigeria. What unfolded in the mid-17th century was not just a war; it was a […]