About
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Plagiarism Policy
Log In

Search

Home
Log In
Library
First Draft
Archive
Events
Submissions
- Call For Submissions
Support The Republic
Shop
Archive
Subscribe

Remember Me

Lost your password?

Home
Library
First Draft
Newsletter
Events
Submissions
- Call For Submissions
- Submission Guidelines
Support The Republic
Archive
Subscribe

Timelines

Share this:

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)

Current Issue

You Might Also Like

The 'Hidden Hand' of Europe

If You No Get Money, Hide Your Face

‘Writer, Write.’

The Latest

Too Foreign to Vote Diaspora Voting: Where Naija Might Carry Last

February 24, 2021

Are We Victims of Pharmaceutical Half-Truths? The Politics of Clinical Trials in Africa

February 22, 2021

‘I Believe in a “Supranatural” Writing Process.’ Edwin Chege’s First Draft

February 19, 2021

‘We Just Want to Live’ Youth and the #EndSARS Protests

February 15, 2021

‘Every Word Has a Function.’ Chinonye Otuonye’s First Draft

February 12, 2021

Keep in Touch!

CURRENT ISSUE

Current-Issue

Topics

Climate Change Culture & Society Economics Gender & Feminism History International Affairs Politics & Security Science & Technology

Latest

Too Foreign to Vote Diaspora Voting: Where Naija Might Carry Last

February 24, 2021

Are We Victims of Pharmaceutical Half-Truths? The Politics of Clinical Trials in Africa

February 22, 2021

Edwin Chege's Illustration

‘I Believe in a “Supranatural” Writing Process.’ Edwin Chege’s First Draft

February 19, 2021

Follow Us on Twitter

Tweets by @republicjournal

We’re on Instagram!

republicjournal

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

Today in 1966, Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown as pre

Today in 1966, Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown as president in Ghana.⠀
-⠀
On 24 February 1966, former Ghanaian prime minister and post-independence president, Kwame Nkrumah, was overthrown in a coup by Ghanaian military officers while on a diplomatic mission to China. Nkrumah did not learn of the coup until he arrived in China.⠀
-⠀
After the coup, the conspirators, led by Joseph Arthur Ankrah, named themselves the National Liberation Council (NLC) and ruled as a military government for three years. Several claims allege that the USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was partly responsible for the coup. In 1978, John Stockwell, a former chief of the CIA Angola task force, wrote that the CIA base in Accra maintained contact with the coup plotters and 'was given full, if unofficial credit for the eventual coup.'⠀
-⠀
Under the new leadership of the NLC, Ghana realigned itself internationally, invited the IMF and World Bank to help manage its economy, and privatized many of its state corporations.⠀
-⠀
Nkrumah had led Ghana (then called the Gold Coast) to independence from Britain in 1957 and served as its first prime minister and president. He was an advocate of Pan-Africanism and a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity. He lived out the rest of his days in exile in Guinea. He died of prostate cancer in a hospital in Bucharest, Romania, on 27 April 1972.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Wemimo, Editorial Assistant⠀
📷: Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana from 1957-1966. Universal History Archive

Should Nigerians in the diaspora be able to vote i

Should Nigerians in the diaspora be able to vote in Nigeria’s elections? #OnSite⚡⁠
-⁠
In our latest online essay, writer, Muzz Muhammad, explains three factors that have prevented diaspora voting in Nigeria.⁠
-⁠
According to Muhammad, in sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of the 48 countries allow for some form of external voting. Muhammad notes that Nigeria, which has a diaspora population of 20 million does not have any form of, or legal allowance for external voting. Muhammad argues that factors that have influenced this include:⁠
-⁠
1. Legislative barriers. Muhammad explains that in 2009 and 2012, bills were passed to grant voting rights to Nigerians in the diaspora but they were both rejected by legislators because they ‘failed to account for the constitution’s explicit prohibition of external voting.’ According to Muhammad, people criticized the bill for ‘failing to make clear what types of elections expatriates could participate in and what system voters in the diaspora would use to cast their votes.’⁠
-⁠
2. Low political will. Muhammad explains that political will for diaspora enfranchisement could be linked to ‘ruling political parties perception of the partisan alignment of diaspora groups’. Muhammad notes that African political parties are typically more willing to support diaspora voting if they believe that those voters will support them during elections.⁠
-⁠
3. Marginalization. According to Muhammad, asides Western countries and the Middle East, Nigerians also emigrate to other African countries like Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Muhammad argues that granting a diaspora vote without serious effort to include Nigerians in these diaspora communities, ‘risks systematically marginalizing them in elections, worsening already chronic sociopolitical violence, and undermining already-troubled confidence in the Nigerian electoral process.’⁠
-⁠
For more on this topic, click the link in our bio.⁠
____________⁠
📝: Muzz Muhammad⁠
📷: Nigeria's Chiwetel Ejiofor in the Old Guard movie. Aimee Spinks / Netflix / Kobal / Shutterstock

Today in 2013, more than 9,000 people were left ho

Today in 2013, more than 9,000 people were left homeless in Lagos, Nigeria.⠀
-⠀
On 23 February 2013, demolition squads sent by the Lagos State government tore down hundreds of buildings in the informal settlement of Badia East, Lagos. More than 9,000 people were forcefully evicted from their homes without prior notice and left to watch as their properties were turned to rubble.⠀
-⠀
The Lagos State government demolished homes, a church, a school, as well as the community’s only well, hospital, and public toilet. No alternative housing was provided by the government despite the lack of prior notice and thousands were left homeless. The demolished areas were earmarked for a housing development project by the state government. The evictions were the first phase of the government’s plans to clear out the whole of Badia East to ‘redevelop’ the area.⠀
-⠀
In the early 1970s, people left displaced by the construction of the National Theater, ahead of the 1977 Festival of Arts and Culture, were relocated to the Badia East settlement. Badia East was part of the larger Badia community, and one of nine ‘slums’ meant to benefit from the World Bank-funded Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Wemimo, Editorial Assistant.⠀
📷: Badia East residents organize a protest march. February 2013. Andrew Maki / JEI.

Bobi Wine withdraws court case due to bias.⠀
-⠀
Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, widely known as Bobi Wine, says he is withdrawing his court case challenging the outcome of the presidential election that handed victory to incumbent President Yoweri Museveni. Bobi Wine said he had decided to withdraw his case, adding that 'the courts are not independent, it is clear these people (judges) are working for Mr Museveni'.⠀
-⠀
Bobi Wine had rejected the results of the January presidential election, claiming that victory had been stolen from him. He had asked the court to reverse the results on many grounds, including the widespread use of violence. Museveni, who won a sixth term in office when he was proclaimed the winner of the January 14 elections dismissed claims of vote-rigging, asserting that the election was 'the most cheating-free' election the country had ever had since it gained independence from Britain in 1962.⠀
-⠀
Solomon Muyita, a judiciary spokesman, told Reuters news agency that they will only respond to Bobi Wine’s accusations and his decision to withdraw the case when he formally withdraws it through his lawyers. 'Right now what he has done is, he has only made a political statement, as far as the records of the Supreme Court are (concerned) the case is still there,' he said.⠀
-⠀
According to Human Rights Watch, during the lead-up to the elections in Uganda, there was widespread violence and human rights abuses. More than 50 people were killed and the internet was shut down across the country.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Tomisin, Editorial Assistant⠀
📷: Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine during the press conference encouraging his 'people power' supporters to continue wearing their trademark red berets in Kampala. 01 October 2019. Sally Hayden / Getty Images

Nigeria needs more clinical trials. #OnSite⚡⁠

Nigeria needs more clinical trials. #OnSite⚡⁠
-⁠
In our latest online essay, researcher, Charles Besidonne, provides the following three reasons why Nigeria need clinical trials:⁠
-⁠
1. Domestic healthcare development. According to Besidonne, the absence of clinical trials and relevant clinical trial infrastructure can be detrimental to local drug development in Nigeria. Besidonne explains that Nigeria has formal and informal pharmaceutical industries. 'The formal sector is heavily focused on drug importation and the informal sector focuses majorly on local herbs and concoctions mixed to cure a myriad of diseases'. He notes that in the absence of clinical trials to help prove that these mixtures are effective, consumers are often left at risk of developing underlying health complications such as chronic liver or kidney damage.⁠
-⁠
2. Improved access to medication. Besidonne argues that reduced access to medication is another reason clinical trials are needed. He notes that Oxybryta, a drug developed to treat sickle cell by Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) did not enrol patients from Nigeria—a country with the majority of individuals living with sickle cell in the world—during its testing phases. Besidonne argues that if clinical tests had been carried out in Nigeria, at least some sickle cell patients may have had the opportunity to benefit from a reduced disease burden, even if they were unable to purchase the drug after approval.⁠
-⁠
3. Job opportunities. Pharmaceutical firms recruit companies known as Contract Research Organizations (CROs) to help with the process of conducting clinical trials. He notes that these firms handle everything from 'patient recruitment to data collection and analysis, drug shipment, and trial monitoring at selected hospitals and clinics.' Besidonne argues that the near absence of this industry in West Africa means the region misses out on job opportunities as for one potential drug, as many as 5 CROs are hired.⁠
-⁠
For more on this topic, click the link in our bio.⁠
____________⁠
📝: Charles Besidonne⁠
📷: A Nigerian healthcare worker tests a child for COVID-19. NCDC / TWITTER

Today in 2002, Jonas Savimbi was assassinated.⠀

Today in 2002, Jonas Savimbi was assassinated.⠀
-⠀
On 22 February 2002, Jonas Savimbi, an Angolan fighter and leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), was killed in an attack by soldiers from the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).⠀
-⠀
Savimbi was the founding member of UNITA, which became one of the key political movements involved in Angola’s campaign for independence. After the country gained independence from Portugal on 11 November 1975, the rivalries and struggle for control between the UNITA and other pro-independence movements—including the MPLA—evolved into the bloody Angolan Civil War, which lasted for 27 years—until 2002.⠀
-⠀
Six weeks after Savimbi’s death, the UNITA and the MPLA signed a ceasefire. However, nearly two decades after the war, Angola remains deeply politically divided between MPLA and UNITA supporters.⠀
____________⠀
📝: Wemimo, Editorial Assistant.⠀
📷: Jonas Savimbi at UNITA headquarters in Jamba, Southern Angola. William F Campbell.

Masthead
Submissions
Press Forward
Contact Us
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Plagiarism Policy

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Republic: A Journal of Nigerian Affairs © The Republic Knowledge Company, 2016-2020

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Click here to learn more. CONTINUE

Show More

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary

Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Send to Email Address Your Name Your Email Address

Post was not sent - check your email addresses!

Email check failed, please try again

Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.