Cobalt is an essential mineral used for batteries in electric cars, computers, and cell phones. Demand for cobalt is increasing as more electric cars are sold, particularly in Europe, where governments are encouraging the sales with generous environmental bonuses. According to recent projections by the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance, the demand for cobalt for use in batteries will grow fourfold in 2030 as a result of this electric vehicle boom. More than 70...
Up to now, radical jihadi activity in West Africa has been centered in Mali—with spillover to adjacent parts of Burkina Faso and Niger—and the Lake Chad Basin. The two locales are now increasingly bridged by jihadi activity in northwest Nigeria, where resurgent struggles over land and water with a cast of ethnically aligned fighters and flourishing criminality provide them with new space. Jihadi movements in all three regions are fractious, subject to bloody internal rivalries, and overlap...
Last week President Trump invited reporters to listen in on a call intended to celebrate the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel, a diplomatic achievement that comes with more than a few complications. During the course of the conversation with the Sudanese and Israeli prime ministers, the president of the United States took it upon himself to casually issue a bellicose threat to Ethiopia on behalf of Egypt and its president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a man...
These selfish morons trivialize the blood of their forebears that have constantly watered the tree of liberty. ― Dr. Anthony Obi Ogbo An African proverb says that a man who is not mindful of how his father died is most likely to become victim of the exact thing that killed his father. This expression holds true when we view in awe, the deliberate ignorance, and blind emotional path many of my African American brethren are...
Nigerians are governed by people who do not care so much about their basic needs, as much as they care about the luxury they enjoy with public money. ―Ebuka Onyekwelu As of now, it is clear to every discerning mind that what is going on across several states of Nigeria is no longer the #End SARS campaign, but a dangerous development that can so easily slip into chaotic anarchy. The situation as it is, can...
Although the US has its police issues, Nigeria can borrow and integrate the acceptable practices of criminal justice reforms from the US and other parts of the world. —Dr. I. D. Onwudiwe Due to the incessant killings of Nigerian youths by SARS and the resulting dilemma, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, Wizkid, a famous young musician, staged the EndSARS protests in London on October 11, 2020. His efforts and actions exposed police brutality and its accompanying violations...
The Coronavirus that was unleashed on the peoples of the world at the beginning of the year has, as at October 22, 2020, infected 41,104,946 people and killed 1,128,325 according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. In the ten months or so since its ferocious rampage, COVID-19 has undoubtedly re-configured the world’s social dynamics, demystified perceived invincibility of superpowers and humbled arrogant world leaders. The arsenals of the world’s mightiest militaries were rendered useless as...
President Buhari is the very last human being once peaceful protesters, turned angry mob, want to listen to. ―Ebuka Onyekwelu The end SARS campaign has been on for about the third week now. Throughout the first and second weeks of the protest, it went on smoothly and extraordinarily peaceful to the utter chagrin of those who expect so little of Nigerian youth. Clearly, President Buhari who once referred to Nigerian youth as “lazy”, may as...
The Government of Anambra State has concluded plans to present the 2021 budget to the Anambra State House of Assembly on Thursday 22nd October, 2020. This will be the last budget of the administration of Governor Willie Obinao considering that he will be handing over to a successor in March, 2022. Very clearly, the budget of 2022 is going to be a subject of intense politicizations wherein the incoming governor and the outgoing governor will...
As a practicing Catholic, I do not go to confession. These priests do not deserve to hear my sins that belong in the Ears of God. ―Don Okolo There is a Catholic priest in Louisiana, and he takes the cake. I don’t know what his name is, but I guarantee you the one called Samael, Lucifer, that is, does. If anyone in the realm of Heaven is weeping right about now, it is Jesus, The...
