Parents of Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped in 2014 by Islamic extremists attend a 10th anniversary event of the abduction in Lagos, Nigeria, on April 4, 2024.
(AP Photo/Mansur Ibrahim )
It’s been 10 years since the #BringBackOurGirls campaign was launched to rescue kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. Looking back at the campaign reveals its innovations and limitations.
Technology enables the provision of legal services across borders.
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Technology is transnational. It is therefore disrupting traditional notions of legal jurisdiction and regulation.
Millions of people in west Africa rely on fishing to make a living.
Robert Paarlberg/Salata Institute
Coastal fishing communities in west Africa face increased poverty as fish stocks decline.
The Osun River in Nigeria has high levels of microplastics in its water, sediment and fish.
Gideon Idowu
The level of microplastic pollution in Osun River may be the highest in the world. Banning single-use plastics may help.
Sickle cell disease can lead to a stroke − proper screening can help.
Md Babul Hosen/Getty Images
Sickle cell disease causes lower oxygen levels and abnormal blood flow in the brain, which can lead to a stroke. New research into noninvasive screening methods could help reduce the risk.
The late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.
Nigerian Tribune
Fuji music is a way of life for millions of Yoruba people. It’s the prism through which they understand their world.
Nollywood celebrity Patience Ozokwor, aka Mama G, pleads for the release of the more than 200 abducted Chibok school girls in Lagos on 29 May 2014.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Governance failure and location of schools around large expanses of unprotected forest zones make school children easy targets for bandits in Nigeria’s north-west.
“Bring back our girls” campaigners protesting in Abuja on 22 August 2014.
Mac John Akende/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Nigeria’s school abductions are a sign of neglect of territorial and human security in the country.
Pangolins are the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal.
Jekesai Njikizana/AFP via Getty Images
Pangolins are among the most trafficked and poached mammals in the world.
The Cross River National Park, Oban biosphere, is one of the few forest reserves remaining in Nigeria.
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Nigeria’s forest resources have dwindled and are in danger of disappearing in a few decades if nothing is done to save them.
Nigeria’s labour groups stage a protest over economic hardship caused by the removal of the fuel subsidy in Lagos.
Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Nigeria’s sudden and total removal of fuel subsidies was not the best strategy to use.
Supporters of southern Cameroon independence outside Westminster Abbey, London, on 14 March 2022.
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Cameroon’s rebels don’t have the unity, funding or logistics to achieve their aims.
Workers haul part of a fibre optic cable onto the shore at the Kenyan port town of Mombasa.
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Fibre optic cables now literally encircle Africa, though some parts of the continent are far better connected than others.
Traders in Wuse, Abuja. Nigeria’s inflation is driven by soaring food costs and the fall of the country’s currency.
Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images
Factors pushing inflation rates downwards in other parts of the world are achieving the exact opposite result in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a hub for ivory trafficking despite its small elephant population.
Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu/ Getty Images
Forest elephants are endangered in Nigeria. Habitat protection, community awareness campaigns, research and stronger regulations could save them from going extinct.
The research assessed newspaper coverage of fintech in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.
Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images
Coverage is celebratory and offers limited cautionary and critical reporting to the public and to policymakers.
Horsemen parade during the Durbar Festival in Ilorin.
Samuel Alabi/AFP via Getty Images
New research on Ilorin in Nigeria provides insights into regional socio-political developments prior to the 19th century.
Community based environmental groups sued the South African government over coal pollution in 2021.
Julia Evans/GroundUp
Women need legal aid to sue companies and governments over climate change damage to their communities.
Tech tools improve the monitoring of ship activities in the Gulf of Guinea.
Xinovap/Shutterstock
Tech tools are playing a vital role in addressing security threats at sea in various west and central African countries.
Samuel Alabi/EPA
Africa’s largest economy is in crisis, and unrest is growing.