Romance and the average Yoruba girl
Are quirky white people with thriving, trendy careers in New York City, the only ones to find love?
Nigeria
Party like its 1999
Nigerians have fought for democracy before, and we shouldn’t underestimate civil society’s willingness to defend it.
5 Questions for a Filmmaker: Newton Aduaka
For Aduaka, cinema is important if it illuminates or resonates something that makes up the essence of this thing called human nature.
The importance of cultural preservation
The multimedia artist Tunde Owolabi brings Aso-Oke weaving to gallery spaces.
African pop reawakens its political roots
Nigerian band VILLY & The Xtreme Volumes wants to open the world's eyes to the political and social realities of the continent through a catchy and danceable repertoire.
The history of Nigeria’s 1990s democracy movement
What has been the personal legacy and costs to the Abiola women in Nigeria's struggle for democracy.
Making African celebrity culture
Considering the proximity of celebrity culture to how capitalism operates in Africa, why is it not given more serious attention?
How to be an expatriate in Nigeria
Nigerians love expatriates more than they love themselves. Nigeria is expatriate heaven, claims novelist and lawyer, Elnathan John.
LagosPhoto is Five Years Old
Four years ago I interviewed Azu Nwagbogu, director of Lagos-based African Artists’ Foundation and the annual photography festival LagosPhoto. At the time the interview appeared in Guernica, LagosPhoto had just finished its second year and Nwagbogu’s ambitions for photography in Africa’s most populous country were still developing. On the occasion of LagosPhoto’s five-year anniversary, I spoke […]
Bam bam riddim
Hipster's Don't Dance's 'Top 5 World Carnival Tunes' for September 2014.
Shooting Lagos
In February of 2013, I made a hurried decision to head to Lagos, in an attempt to shoot a pilot season for My Africa Is, an ongoing web documentary series, that aims to dispute the one dimensional portrayal of the African continent. We had been seeking funding for quite some time, and it just wasn’t […]
Africa Is a Country Radio: Episode #3
Episode 3 of Africa is a Country Radio is live on Groovalizacion and the AIAC Mixcloud page. Brazil being on much of the world’s minds these days we had to open the show with a dedication to the World Cup host country. A special post-show big up to the Brazilian people — who stay challenging the status […]
A brief history of Nigeria’s Super Eagles
There are no records of when the first official football match was played in Nigeria, but it started in the 1920s.
History Class with Cheta: Who is Herbert Macaulay
Too many people have forgotten about the one Naira coin, and the chap on that coin. This is a big disservice to Nigeria. Today’s History Class is going to be about that fellow, the one who has roads named after him in Lagos and Abuja, but who, sadly, is slipping away from our national consciousness.
Wole Soyinka has opinions about social media
"... I do not tweet, blog or whatever goes on in this increasingly promiscuous medium"
Jihad in Nigeria
Long before Boko Haram, talk of holy war in what became Nigeria was everywhere.
Nigeria’s Catch 22
American style democracy will only throw up more more leaders like Goodluck Jonathan.
Nollywood in Paris
For many white French, and including African immigrants in France, watching movies like 'Phone Swap,' 'Tango with Me,' 'Last Flight to Abuja' and 'Maami,' is an eye-opener.
The balkanization of Nigeria?
For those who want Nigeria to balkanize, try being a small, ineffectual African country.
Nigeria’s baby boom
Each year more babies are born in Nigeria than in the entire continent of Europe.