To Palestinian students fed up with Fatah and imprisoned by politics, Africa’s maturing democracies are a source of inspiration.
Prospective students storm the gates at the University of Johannesburg in 2012. The demand for universities is soaring across Africa.
Adrian de Kock/EPA
There is more to drawing diaspora academics back to their home countries in Africa than striking up individual relationships. Infrastructure must be fixed and institutional management must improve.
Buhari has a lot to prove after landslide election.
'STR/EPA'
Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo led confidently on African affairs because they were elected by comfortable majorities at home and had solid control of their political parties.
Celebrations as Muhammadu Buhari takes office.
EPA/Deji Yake
Nigeria has been among the fastest growing economies this past decade but only 25% of the country’s population has benefited from this growth, leaving the majority trapped in the informal sector.
Nigeria managed to stem the spread of ebola in Lagos, a densely populated city of 21 million people.
Reuters/Juda Ngwenya
The fast thinking Nigerian government used a tried and tested tracking system and pooled expertise to contain the ebola virus in three months.
Despite increases in education attainment, the educated youth in sub-Saharan Africa find that there are no jobs suited to their levels of education.
Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
School enrolment rates in sub-Saharan Africa have increased markedly in recent years, but it is failing its newly educated young by not creating jobs commensurate with their education.
The relationship between Nigeria and South Africa has again been strained following xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
The expected departure of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Nigeria’s finance minister will leave Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa without a significant voice in the IMF and World Bank.
African nations can look to Nigeria and Tanzania for recent examples of smart policies that boost the middle class.
Flag map via www.shutterstock.com
The 2015 elections in Nigeria were chaotic, but the country’s voters displayed immense courage in showing up at all. More than 20 people were killed, not in electoral violence between competing parties…
Damage from a Boko Haram bomb in Maiduguiri that claimed 51 lives.
EPA/Deji Yake