By Adejumo Kabir and Dr. Ola Bello The events in Guinea-Bissau where the military abruptly seized total control, dissolved electoral processes and detained President Umaro Sissoco Embaló on 26 November mark yet another rupture in a region sliding deeper into abyss of coups, insurgencies, foreign meddling and institutional decay. West Africa is grappling with a complex, interconnected set of challenges that go beyond isolated governance crises like the recent coup in Guinea-Bissau. The region is also struggling to navigate a systemic crisis in which political instability is increasingly shaped by geopolitical rivalry, transnational crime, strategic recalculations of domestic militaries, and…
Author: Development Reporting
By Samson Ademola World leaders have committed to increasing investment in early childhood education and childcare, marking what advocates describe as a significant breakthrough for the early years. This pledge was made at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the first on African soil. The Group of Twenty (G20) is an international forum of both developing and developed countries which seeks to find solutions to global economic and financial issues. The commitment, captured in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration released at the close of the summit, places early childhood development (ECD) on the agenda of the world’s major economies for…
ActionAid Nigeria on Tuesday said its 25th anniversary is not only a moment of celebration but a time to chart a clear path for the next 25 years, as the organisation recommits to advancing humanitarian and development interventions across the country. Marking the milestone in Abuja on Tuesday, the Secretary General of ActionAid International, Arthur Larok, joined other dignitaries to celebrate what the organisation described as a significant point in its journey of addressing poverty, inequality, corruption and poor governance in Nigeria. According to the Director of Business Development and Innovation, Nkechi Ilochi-Kanny, marking 25 years of salvaging humanity is worthy…
By Malik Samuel “As I sat with the man I had come to see, two Lakurawa fighters approached us. They questioned my identity, and the man quickly introduced me as his brother, a trader from Sokoto. One of the fighters switched to Arabic, demanding my name and testing me with rapid exchanges. My responses eased his suspicion; he shook my hand, praised my fluency, and even touched my beard, saying it reflected religious devotion. He then seized my phone, ordered me to unlock it, and condemned the music he found as ‘unholy.’ I explained that the phone was newly purchased,…
By Sodiq Mojibola, Olabisi Sulaiman & Moryam Bakare Despite being home to key industries on Lagos mainland and thousands of daily commuters, the road networks linking Akanni Doherty, Oba Akran and Akilo have deteriorated into deep potholes, open drainages, leading to constant traffic jams, and making mobility a daily ordeal for residents, commuters and business operators. The condition of this industrial corridor, which connects major parts of the mainland, has raised fresh questions about years of government neglect. Residents say the deplorable state of the roads has made transportation increasingly herculean and unsafe. Lagos State prides itself on housing over 50 per cent…
By Moryam Bakare Amid rising concerns about the quality and credibility of public examinations, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa; the Registrars of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Examinations Council (NECO), Professors Is-haq Oloyede and Ibrahim Wushishi; and other sector leaders will converge to discuss practical solutions to the country’s examination integrity crisis at the 2025 annual summit organised by the Education Writers Association of Nigeria (EWAN). EWAN is a professional network of education reporters from diverse media organisations across the country, headquartered in Lagos. According to a statement signed by the Secretary of the…
With about 18 million out-of-school children in Nigeria and 1.8 million at risk of severe acute malnutrition, the renewed violence across many states in the country worsens the plight of children. DevReporting’s recent visit to an IDP camp in Benue exposed the keg of gunpowder Nigeria now dangerously sits on. To mark this year’s World Children’s Day, Mojeed Alabi and Mohammed Taoheed report the precarious situation at the International New Market IDP Camp in Makurdi. On a sunny noon on Saturday, 18 October, at an Internally Displaced Persons’ camp located within the International New Market, around Tamen, Abu King Shuluwa…
By Adedoyin Oguntade & Sulaimon Olabisi The publisher of Premium Times and distinguished alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Dapo Olorunyomi, has stressed that the relationship between media, technology, and social responsibility is crucial in shaping democracy, particularly in Nigeria. Mr Olorunyomi made this call on Tuesday, 18 November, when delivering a lecture titled “AI, Social Media and The Reconfiguration of Democratic Power in Nigeria” in OAU. The event marked the inaugural Faculty of Arts Alumni Lecture. He argued that while digital technologies have empowered newsrooms and civil society to expose corruption and combat disinformation and misinformation, it also poses…
Thirteen-year-old Ebunoluwa Oluwatimilehin, an SS2 student of Igando Community Senior High School, Lagos, on Tuesday, emerged the overall winner of the 15th edition of the UBA Foundation National Essay Competition. Oluwatimilehin made history as the first male winner after the competition had produced female winners for eight years in a row. His victory earned him a grand prize of a N10 million educational grant to support his future studies at any university of his choice in Africa, alongside other prizes. The first runner-up, Njoku-Kelechi, an SS2 student of Emerald of Christian International High School, Owerri, received a N7.5 million educational…
By Olabisi Sulaiman & Mariam Alabi The Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) has announced seven finalists for its 2025 Journalist of the Year Award ahead of its annual African Conference on Development Journalism (ACDJ) scheduled for 3 – 4 December, in Kaduna, Nigeria. The organisation says both the conference and the award aim to strengthen media practice and deepen development-focused reporting across the continent. A press statement issued by AMDF and signed by its Executive Director, Sekyen Dadik, stated that the finalists were drawn from more than 25 submissions received across radio, television, print and online categories. AMDF noted that…