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Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún

‘Language is resilient’ Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún’s First Draft

April 1, 2020

Muhammadu Buhari addresses the nation on coronavirus

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March 30, 2020

Moyosore Orekoya First Draft

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March 25, 2020

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A magazine and platform centring Nigeria and Africa in the world’s most critical social, economic and political issues. #ReadSomethingAfrican
Click 👇

Today in 1930, Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia died.⠀
_⠀
#Zewditu was Empress of #Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. She was the first female head of an internationally recognized country in #Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first empress regnant of the Ethiopian Empire. Zewditu was also the last Empress regnant in world history.⠀
_⠀
Zewditu was known for her staunch conservatism and religious devotion and her ambivalence towards state matters. Her rule was mostly symbolic, because her regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen, (future emperor #HaileSelassie) handled official state affairs.⠀
_⠀
During her reign, Zewditu promoted the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and built numerous new churches and temples throughout the Empire. She also allowed Mekonnen to abolish slavery and lead the Empire into the League of Nations.⠀
_⠀
Zewditu died on 2 April 1930, two days after her husband was killed in battle. Having no surviving children, she was succeeded by Ras Tafari Makonnen, who, upon becoming Emperor, was renamed Haile Selassie.⠀
___________⠀
📝: Ibukun x Ugonna, Editorial Interns.⠀
📷: 'Queen of Kings': Empress Zewditu I and with Regent Ras Tafari Makonnen. Photo: Unknown.

African ministers appeal for foreign debt relief.

African ministers appeal for foreign debt relief. #RxCOVID19😷⠀
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On Tuesday, #African finance ministers called on international financial institutions to grant debt relief to African countries amid the coronavirus crisis.⠀
-⠀
With an impending global economic downturn, plummeting oil and commodity prices and weaker currencies which threaten to imperil its coronavirus response, #Africa is in a dire situation.⠀
-⠀
According to a Reuters tally, the continent's confirmed coronavirus cases had climbed to at least 5,300 by Tuesday, with more than 170 recorded deaths.⠀
-⠀
Co-chaired by #SouthAfrica's Finance Minister Tito #Mboweni and Ken #OforiAtta of #Ghana, the ministers met via video conference on Tuesday.⠀
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They agreed that Africa's development partners should consider immediate debt relief and reduced interest rates for all low-income and medium-income countries.⠀
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However, the complexity of Africa's creditor landscape, which includes traditional bilateral and multilateral lenders, commercial banks, and commodity traders, will likely complicate efforts to ease the continent's debt burden.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Ibukun x Ugonna, Editorial Interns⠀
📷: Activists protest in Durban, South Africa during the 13th International AIDS Conference in 2000. Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/AFP

‘Language is resilient,’ - Kọ́lá Túbọ̀

‘Language is resilient,’ - Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún in our latest First Draft.⁠
-⁠
First Draft is our newest column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading and writing.⁠
-⁠
Last year, author and linguist, @kolatubosun, led the team that developed a Nigerian accent for Google Maps. ‘Every language has both the written and the spoken element’; and the spoken element (phonology) is what @kolatubosun’s team ‘mostly engaged with’ while creating their Nigerian accent.⁠
-⁠
‘We wanted a voice that would be recognizable as Nigerian whenever it was heard…one that was not recognizably Igbo or Hausa or Yorùbá. A kind of central neutral voice. It was harder than I had assumed from the start…but we achieved something close.’⁠
-⁠
‘We had to agree on how a Nigerian would pronounce different words (for instance, do we say [faw-lo] or [fo-lo] when we see the word ‘follow’), and then set this in computer-readable rules that could then be applied even for words the computer hadn’t seen before.’⁠
-⁠
Can you guess the sentence behind these phonetic sounds? /steɪ/ /ət ˈhəʊm/, /wɒʃ/ /jɔː/ /handz/.⁠
For more from @kolatubosun, click the link in our bio!⁠
____________⁠
📝: Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún

Ghana slashes GDP forecast over coronavirus shock.

Ghana slashes GDP forecast over coronavirus shock. #RxCOVID19😷⠀
-⠀
On Tuesday, #Ghana slashed its 2020 GDP growth forecast from 6.8% to 1.5%, a rate that would represent the Ghanaian economy’s worst performance in nearly four decades.⠀
-⠀
Finance Minister Ken #OforiAtta said the new growth forecast of 1.5% could be further lowered if the country goes into full lockdown to curb the spread of the virus, which has so far infected 152 and killed five.⠀
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Authorities have imposed a two-week lockdown in the capital #Accra and the city of #Kumasi, Ghana’s main economic hubs. They have also closed all borders and schools and banned mass gatherings.⠀
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In recent years Ghana has had one of the top ten fastest-growing economies in #Africa. Seeking to cushion the economy, Ghana’s central bank has cut interest rates, and the government has asked the #IMF for around $550 million in emergency funding.⠀
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Last week the IMF said around 80 countries, including 20 from Africa, had requested emergency loans from a $50 billion fund.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Ibukun x Ugonna, Editorial Interns⠀
📷: A tomato trader in Tudu Market, Central Accra. Photo: Yepoka Yeebo

Today in 1940, Wangari Maathai was born. _ Wangari

Today in 1940, Wangari Maathai was born.
_
Wangari #Maathai was a #Kenyan politician and environmental activist. In 2004, she became the first black #African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She was also the first female scholar from East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate, and the first female professor ever in #Kenya.
_
In 1977 she started a grassroots movement aimed at countering the deforestation that was threatening the livelihoods of rural subsistence farmers. The campaign, called the Green Belt Movement, encouraged women to plant trees in their local environments and to think ecologically. It eventually spread to other African countries and contributed to the planting of over thirty million trees.
_
Maathai played an active part in the struggle for democracy in Kenya. An outspoken critic of Daniel arap Moi’s regime, she was beaten and arrested numerous times. In 1989, she led a campaign to stop the construction of a 60-storey office complex in #Uhuru park.
_
She died in 2011 at the age of 71 after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer.
____________
📝: Ibukun x Ugonna, Editorial Interns
📷: Wangari Maathai. Photo: US Embassy in Kenya.

‘That time is now’. #WangariMaathai

‘That time is now’. #WangariMaathai

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