Latest Posts

Charly Boy Bus Stop and the Politics of Official Renaming

Dengiyefa Angalapu·October 5, 2025

What happens when the politics of naming is used to silence a story? From ‘Charly Boy’ to ‘Baddo’, Nigeria’s streets are becoming battlegrounds where memory, identity and politics collide. Read More...

Nigeria October/November 2025

Nigeria’s Anthems of Division and the Promise of Democratic Feminist Nationalism

Ololade Faniyi·September 28, 2025

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti showed that political organizing could transcend ethnic divisions while staying culturally rooted. Yet despite the vision of democratic nationalism her work offers us, today’s elite capture of democratic possibilities cloaks anti-democratic politics in the language of ethnic victimhood. Read More...

August/September 2025 Editors Picks: Independence Day Independence Day 2025 Nigeria

Is This the Federation Nnamdi Azikiwe Fought For?

Yusuf Omotayo·September 28, 2025

Nigeria celebrates its 65th independence anniversary during a period of uninterrupted 26 years of democratic governance. Despite this commendable sustenance of democracy, the country struggles to unite as ethnic tension rises. Read More...

August/September 2025 Editors Picks: Independence Day Independence Day 2025 Nigeria

The Vanishing Dream of Nigeria’s Middle Class

Jola Sonowo·September 28, 2025

Rice costs more, the naira buys less, and the middle class is checking out. From golden-age dreams post-independence to present japa-fuelled exits, this essay traces how Nigeria’s middle class rose, unravelled, and now fights to survive. Read More...

August/September 2025 Editors Picks: Independence Day Independence Day 2025 Nigeria

7 Books to Read if You Didn’t Study Nigerian History in School

Peace Yetunde Onafuye·September 28, 2025

In 1977, historian Obaro Ikime delivered a lecture, ‘History and the Changing Cultures of Nigeria’, responding to Alhaji Shetima Ali Munguno’s disapproval of what he saw at the University of Calabar. Ikime argued that one of Nigeria’s greatest problems is our ‘inadequate knowledge of history and the ways of life of the various groups that make up Nigeria.’ As Nigeria turns 65, it is important to return to that history. Read More...

August/September 2025 Editors Picks: Independence Day Independence Day 2025 Read Something African Reading

The New Chapter in Nigeria’s Tax Story

Martins Eke·September 21, 2025

Nigeria will begin 2026 with its biggest tax overhaul in decades. But what exactly is changing and will the new tax regime worsen or improve Nigeria’s economic and fiscal future? Read More...

August/September 2025 Nigeria

The Women Turning a Private Ritual Into a Public Business

Karen Chalamilla·September 21, 2025

The guardians of ukungwi—a practice that educates girls and women on sex, homemaking and marriage—are reimagining their approach to this East African tradition. Today, they face a dilemma: the risk of losing the cultural essence of ukungwi while seeking to monetize it for sustainability. Read More...

August/September 2025 Tanzania

The Nigerian Heart of Joop Berkhout

Femke van Zeijl·September 21, 2025

Joop Berkhout, an icon of Nigeria’s publishing industry for almost six decades, died in February 2025 in Ibadan. He nurtured generations of writers and built Spectrum Books into a publishing powerhouse, yet also embraced the ‘big man’ culture of his adopted country with remarkable ease. Read More...

August/September 2025 Nigeria

10 African Writers on How They Actually Wrote Their Books

Ijapa O·September 21, 2025

In our latest First Draft interview, we ask leading African writers, including Laila Lalami and Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, about their writing processes. Here's what the told us. Read More...

August/September 2025 First Draft Interviews