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Nigerian Hair

Portraits of Nigerian Hair

The Republic·November 24, 2024
Obidike Arinze Nnanyelu, who created the Visual History of Nigerian Hair illustration series, discusses what it means as an artist to document hair-making in Nigeria and unpack its cultural significance. Read More...
InterviewsNigeriaOctober/November 2024vol8-no4
Books

The Books Writers Think Make the Perfect Holiday Gifts

Peace Yetunde Onafuye·November 24, 2024
As the holiday season approaches, we asked writers and booksellers—including Theresa Lola, Noo Saro-Wiwa, and Adedayo Agarau—for their top book recommendations to gift a loved one. Here’s what they told us. Read More...
First DraftInterviewsOctober/November 2024vol8-no4
Nsibidi

The Reinvention of Nsibidi

Gabriella Opara·November 24, 2024
Nsibidi, Nigeria’s historical writing script, offers a glimpse into the complexities and intricacies of African cultures. Today, a universe of creators, researchers and enthusiasts is on a quest to promote its resurgence in our contemporary world. Read More...
NigeriaOctober/November 2024vol8-no4
Yoruba

The Last Guardians of Yoruba Door Carving

Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi·November 24, 2024
Yoruba carvers were once revered for their intricate spiritual and cultural door designs. The few carvers remaining today persevere against a world that increasingly overlooks the value of their art. Read More...
Best of 2024: EssaysNigeriaOctober/November 2024vol8-no4
Books

7 Memoirs Worth Reading Cover to Cover

Ìjàpá O·November 24, 2024
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of memoirs worth reading cover to cover. Read More...
October/November 2024Read Something AfricanReading
Ondo

Ondo 2024 Governorship Election and the Hallmarks of a Recessive Democracy

Afolabi Adekaiyaoja·November 24, 2024
The low participation of electorates in the Ondo State election points to a serious problem of voter apathy and raises the question of the status and future of Nigeria’s evolving democracy. Read More...
NigeriaOctober/November 2024
Fireboy

How Fireboy Captured the Heart of a Generation

Abioye Damilare·November 24, 2024
Five years after its release, Fire Boy’s debut album, Laughter, Tears and Goosebumps, endures as a cultural touchstone in Afropop—emotionally resonant, sonically cohesive, and boldly introspective at the crossroads of R&B, Pop, and Afrobeats. Read More...
NigeriaOctober/November 2024
Ayesha Harruna Attah

‘Write What You’ve Always Wanted to Write’ Ayesha Harruna Attah’s First Draft

Ayesha Harruna Atta·November 22, 2024
Ghanaian writer and author of The Hundred Wells of Salaga, Ayesha Harruna Attah, says she was inspired to write her latest novel during the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘The inspiration for Zainab Takes New York came from being stuck indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the uncertainty of those first months of the pandemic, I thought to myself: write what you’ve always wanted to write—and that turned out to be a romantic comedy.’ Read More...
First DraftGhanaInterviewsOctober/November 2024
Hausa

Tsibbu, Magic and Hausa Medicine

Sada Malumfashi·November 21, 2024
How Hausa magic-medicine systems continue to exist between religion and culture. Read More...
NigeriaOctober/November 2024vol8-no4
Dissent

Africa’s Ironic Securitization of Dissent

Akinbode Fasakin·November 17, 2024
While governments in Africa crackdown on dissent, history reveals that, ironically, many of those in power often engaged in one form of dissent before coming into office. Read More...
AfricaOctober/November 2024

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CURRENT ISSUE

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We’re on Instagram!

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The essential guide to the ideas, trends, people and stories shaping Nigeria and the broader African continent. Subscribe from N5,000/$5.99 monthly.

We’re looking for the most interesting brands! ⁠
⁠
For the first time since we officially launched in 2018, The Republic is opening up its platform to advertisers.⁠
⁠
But we’re not doing it the usual way.⁠
⁠
We’re inviting a small number of visionary African brands (companies and organizations building for the future, shaping culture, and sparking conversation) to advertise with us in a way that reflects our values: bold thinking, clean design, and editorial integrity.⁠
⁠
As part of this pilot, we’ll be selecting just three standout brands to receive a full month of premium visibility—across our website, newsletter, and social media channels—for ₦200,000 (a special flat rate compared to our standard ₦2 million).⁠
⁠
If selected, your ad will be vetted and supported by our editorial team to ensure it aligns with The Republic’s visual and storytelling standards. This is a rare chance to reach our highly engaged, globally minded African audience—on terms that elevate your brand.⁠
⁠
For more details and to apply, visit the link in our bio or IG story. ⁠
⁠
Deadline: 12 July 2025.⁠
⁠
We can’t wait to see what you’re building.
Today in 1922, Joseph Ki-Zerbo was born. #RPUBLCHi Today in 1922, Joseph Ki-Zerbo was born. #RPUBLCHistory⏳️⁠
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On 21 June 1922, Joseph Ki-Zerbo was born in Toma, Upper-Volta (now Burkina Faso). As a historian, politician and writer, Ki-Zerbo is recognized as one of Africa's foremost thinkers.⁠
⁠
Read more about Burkinabé politics by clicking the image in the link in bio⁠
____________⁠
📝: Ibukun Olokode x Ugonna Eronini⁠
📷: 1)Joseph Ki-Zerbo / Wikimedia Commons.⁠
2)Joseph Ki-Zerbo / Wiki.⁠
3)Thomas Sankara at the UN headquarters, New York, 1984. Milton Grant/UN Photo.
Nok and Africa’s Disregard for Prehistory #OnSi Nok and Africa’s Disregard for Prehistory  #OnSite⚡⁠
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⁠Who stole our past, and why did we let them?⁠
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Nok art, 2,500 years old, locked in glass boxes in Paris. A German university training archaeologists on Nigeria’s Nok Valley, with none of them African. An ancient Ethiopian feminist philosophy rediscovered in Norway, while Addis Ababa looked the other way.⁠
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In today’s essay, Odafin Odafe Okoh confronts the question at the heart of Africa’s heritage crisis: Why do African leaders continue to treat precolonial history as dispensable? And what happens to a society that allows the world to define its past?⁠
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It’s a timely, cultural report about imperial theft but more hauntingly, it is about African amnesia, state-sanctioned silence and the quiet burial of our most powerful intellectual legacies.⁠
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Read the full essay by clicking this image in the link in bio or our IG story.⁠
⁠
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📝: Odafin Odafe Okoh⁠
📸: Photo illustration by Ezinne Osueke (@ezinne.o.osueke) / THE REPUBLIC. Source Ref: WIKIMEDIA. Nok Art / African Art Gallery.⁠
🔍: Ada Nnadi (@horneddaughter), Yusuf Omotayo (@yusufomotayo), Wale Lawal (@wallelawal); Editors.
Today in 1920, Amos Tutuola was born. #RPUBLCHisto Today in 1920, Amos Tutuola was born. #RPUBLCHistory⏳️⁠
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On 20 June 1920, Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was a Nigerian novelist whose works featured rich Yoruba folklore written in nonstandard English. Many of his books featured stories he had heard as a child.⁠
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Swipe to learn more and read more about Amos Tutuola by clicking the image at the link in our bio.⁠
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📝: Ibukun Olokode and Ugonna Eronini⁠
📷: 1) Amos Tutuola. Francoise Huguier/Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center/The University of Texas at Austin. ⁠
2) Amos Tutuola. Wikimedia Commons.⁠
Press Freedom is at Risk in the Democratic Republi Press Freedom is at Risk in the Democratic Republic of Congo. #RPUBLCNews📡⁠
⁠
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has banned the country’s media from reporting on the activities of former president, Joseph Kabila, and his party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), claiming that they pose a threat to ‘national cohesion’. This comes after Kabila visited the eastern city of Goma, which is controlled by the M23 rebels currently fighting the DRC army. ⁠
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The ban raises concerns about press freedom in the DRC, coming only two years after the country passed a new press law potentially restricting press freedom and providing several opportunities for journalism to be criminalized. In 2024, the Journalist in Danger, a DRC-based organization, reported that there had been ‘at least 523 cases of various attacks against the press’ in the last five years.⁠
_____⁠
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📝: Ijapa O (@ijapa_o)⁠
🔍: Ezinne Osueke (@ezinne.o.osueke), Yusuf Omotayo (@yusufomotayo), Adetola Wahab; Editors.
What Is the Place of Nollywood in the World? #OnS What Is the Place of Nollywood in the World?  #OnSite⚡⁠
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Despite being the world’s second-largest film industry by volume, Nollywood remains startlingly absent from the global spaces where culture is consumed. On a train from Paris to Lille for Series Mania—the largest TV festival in Europe—Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi browses the in-train film catalogue: French, Italian, Indian, American. Nollywood? Not there. Even on the flight over, Nigerian films were buried under ‘World’ then ‘African.’⁠
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Nollywood has topped Netflix global charts (Aníkúlápó, Shanty Town), attracted streaming giants like Amazon and Netflix, and sent delegations to Europe’s most prestigious festivals. Yet, the industry remains on the margins: overlooked by the Oscars, sidelined by global distributors and perpetually asked to prove its worth.⁠
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Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi’s essay draws from the Series Mania Forum (where ten Nollywood filmmakers joined Africa’s cultural elite) to ask urgent questions: Why does Hollywood exist in Nigeria but not vice versa? Is the industry being undermined by its obsession with volume over quality? What happens if streamers pull out completely? And why hasn’t Nollywood, despite decades of output, been invited to sit at the table of global cinematic power?⁠
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With commentary from Kunle Afolayan, Mimidoo Bartel and Blessing Uzzi, this essay is a sharp reflection on race, gatekeeping, cultural capital and the complex politics of distribution.⁠
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Read the full essay by clicking this image in the link in bio or our IG story.⁠
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📌 Check the pinned comment for our question of the day.
___________⁠
⁠
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📝: Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi (@ahmad_adedimeji)⁠
📸: Photo illustration by Ezinne Osueke (@ezinne.o.osueke) / THE REPUBLIC. Source Ref: UNSPLASH. Nollywood sign / RIPPLES NIGERIA. ⁠
🔍: Ijapa O (@ijapa_o), Peace Yetunde Onafuye (@yetundeandbooks), Wale Lawal (@wallelawal); Editors.
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