June/July 2023

Tinubu vs Hunger How Will Bola Tinubu Solve Nigeria’s Food Crisis?

Kosi OgbuliJuly 30, 2023

Nigeria’s food insecurity crisis has worsened. The emergency President Tinubu has declared is the first step towards acknowledging and addressing this escalating crisis. It now requires a sustained, multi-faceted response to mitigate the severity and ultimately reverse the trend.

June/July 2023Nigeria

‘My Practice and Method of Writing Are Obsessive’ Ernest Nweke’s First Draft

Ernest NwekeJuly 28, 2023

Author of ‘Nigeria vs the South East: The Glaring Igbophobia of the 2023 Elections’ Ernest Nweke, believes the anti-Igbo bigotry of the last election season was an experience many Igbos are familiar with despite denial and gaslighting from the rest of Nigeria.

First DraftInterviewsJune/July 2023Nigeria

Who’s Afraid of Nigerian Literature? The Resilience of Nigerian Writing

Kéchi Nne NomuJuly 27, 2023

The exodus of a new generation of Nigerian writers has sparked discussions about the state of Nigerian literature in recent times. Some have asserted that Nigerian literature is dead or dying and that writing from within a Nigerian context, from home, is becoming an endangered art.

Best of 2023: EssaysJune/July 2023NigeriaReading

The Miseducation of Nigerian Poets The Excessive Influence of American Literary Magazines on Nigerian Poetry

Michael Chiedoziem ChukwuderaJuly 26, 2023

Social media sparked a new life into Nigerian literature in the 2010s. But since American magazines became more prominent to Nigerian poets, many are seemingly now in a choreography of style and themes.

June/July 2023

Put the Student before the Loan A Student Perspective on Nigeria’s Student Loan Act

Afeez OladimejiJuly 25, 2023

Although the 2022 Student Loan Act was signed into law recently, with presumably good intentions, the provisions of the act do not reflect the reality of the intended beneficiaries—students from lower-income-earning families.

June/July 2023Nigeria

Concerning Violence How Frantz Fanon Might Interpret Today’s France

Kai MoraJuly 24, 2023

Over the last few weeks, France has seen unrest at the death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of Moroccan and Algerian origin shot and killed by police officers in a Paris suburb. The events dawn on the 98th birthday of Frantz Fanon, the Martinican psychiatrist who, educated in Paris, spent a critical part of his life in Algeria supporting its nationalist liberation movement against France, seeing the revolution as a ‘bridgehead’ of a pan-African vision.

AfricaAlgeriaBest of 2023: EssaysJune/July 2023

Will N8,000 Be Enough? The Future of Nigeria’s Social Safety Net

Kosi OgbuliJuly 23, 2023

The N8,000 cash transfer programme reflects Nigeria’s ambitious yet challenging journey to expand its social protection coverage. The initiative’s successes and shortcomings will undoubtedly shape the future of the country’s social safety net policies.

June/July 2023

‘A Great Story Makes Readers Genuinely Feel Seen’ Ẹlọ́hór Ẹ́gbọ́rdí’s First Draft

Ẹ́lọ́hór Ẹ́gbọ́rdíJuly 21, 2023

Editor, Ẹ́lọ́hór Ẹ́gbọ́rdí, believes the biggest misconception about African storytelling is that it is inferior to non-African storytelling.

First DraftInterviewsJune/July 2023Nigeria

Writing from the Collective Memories of Others Revisiting Buchi Emecheta’s Destination Biafra

Ijedike JebomaJuly 20, 2023

Since the publication of Destination Biafra by Buchi Emecheta in 1982, many Nigerian writers have made contributions to Biafran War literature. Thirty years on, Emecheta’s novel continues to stand out for its ambitious and distinctive approach to transforming collective memory into a fictionalized Biafra story.

Best of 2023: EssaysJune/July 2023NigeriaReadingvol8-no2

Tinubu’s Regional Turn The Potential Implication of Tinubu’s ECOWAS Chairmanship

Kosi OgbuliJuly 19, 2023

President Bola Tinubu’s election as the ECOWAS chairman is a major win for Nigeria. How he navigates this early responsibility could redefine Nigeria’s image in the global arena.

June/July 2023