Some folks have started getting queasy about inroads being made into the Nigerian film industry by Ghanaian actors. First it was the Ghanaian superstar Van Vicker getting slammed with $2,000 per fee to make him more expensive to hire, now it’s a blanket 250,000 naira clearance fee in addition to cost of hire per Ghanaian (and presumably other foreign) actor. [...]

(Cross-posted at my blog Method to the Madness) Abena P.A. Busia has a speech at a forum on the representation of Nigerian women in the Nigerian film industry that’s worth a read. This, on the Nigerian film industry in general, caught my eye. The Nollywood film industry, willingly or unwittingly, carries on its shoulders the hopes and expectations of a [...]

[Cross-posted at my blog Method to the Madness] Don’t know how I missed this, but (via Africa Unchained) Former Central Bank Chairman Charles Soludo said “our politics must change”. How? Well… Soludo who was guest lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he spoke on the topic “Who Will Reform Politics in Nigeria” [...]

(This piece is cross-posted at my blog Method to the Madness) Pankaj Mishra has a devastating piece on Ayanna Hirsi Ali [Somali-Dutch, now living in the U.S., Islam critic (hater?) extraordinaire] and her newest book “Nomad”. A taste: “Nomad” is unlikely to earn Hirsi Ali many Muslim admirers. Neither will her recent support for the proposed French ban on face [...]

(Cross-posted at my blogging house Method to the Madness). There’s something about a suit that irks me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a well-dressed man as much as the next girl, but there’s something about a perpetually well-dressed person that puts me ill at ease. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s that you have a knot around [...]

Hearing Acting President Goodluck Jonathan live was a confrontation with my pre-conceived impressions. All the news reports from Nigeria have a similar air, in that they tend to depict him as an accidental leader being floated about in the wave of the turmoil that surrounds him. I’ve heard him being spoken of as though he is of no consequence, and [...]

Nobody wants to ever think that, but it’s true. Homes have been demolished. Lives have been upended. Entire worlds have caved into themselves, collapsed like broken hearts, been swallowed whole. What to do? What to do? The eternal cynic that I am, I don’t have any illusions as to the effectiveness of any charity on any disaster. The damage we [...]

Below is an article of mine previously posted at  allAfrica.com.  The previous post on this subject and Nigeria can be found here. Update: I suggest reading the allAfrica.com copy with the link provided above. There, you will see all the links referred to in this article. Ugandan MPs probably didn’t know what a firestorm David Bahati of the ruling National [...]

This. I have a lot of respect for Dr. George Ayittey, but come on. “In many African countries, government has ceased to exist or function. In its place is a vampire state — a government hijacked by unrepentant bandits who use the machinery of the state to enrich themselves, crush their enemies, and perpetuate themselves in office. In Chad, Ethiopia, [...]

The idea that underlines the banality of evil relies on the notion that people are put in situations – by their respective governments or larger authorities, even mere families – where the perpetuation of evil acts stop being evil and become merely a way to ensure their survival. By survival, I mean everything from “If I don’t keep my mouth [...]